1.05 A Little Spark

A looming threat reveals hidden layers beneath the rubble. Ibra bears the brunt. JJ maintains health & safety. Gordon finds a hidden warmth. Fran makes a tough call.

-- links --

Website: wanderingpathpod.com

Support our show: patreon.com/wanderingpathpod

-- cast & crew --

Created by Mischa Stanton

Produced by Bex Taylor-Klaus, Lyn Rafil, & Mischa Stanton

Gamemaster: Mischa Stanton

Ibra: Bex Taylor-Klaus

JJ: Lyn Rafil

Gordon: Ian McQuown

Fran: Mayanna Berrin

Sound design: Mischa Stanton

Cover art: Lyn Rafil

Music: Independent Music Licensing Collective
Production & House Manager: Erin Bark

-- about --

The Wandering Path is an actual-play podcast putting complex characters, resonant themes and engaging new mechanics at the heart of immersive adventures. We’re making the stories we want to see in the world, one game session at a time! Join us for our first season, as we dive to the heart of the City of New Prosper: a techno-magical metropolis on the rise, where those who seek to craft themselves a new future will first have to settle the debts they owe the past. New episodes every other Monday.

— Transcript —

Ian: On the last Wandering Path. 

[SFX: Intro to theme music fades in].

Mischa: The squad found a ton of stuff buried in the rubble of the collapsed overpass, but mostly what they find are more questions. Who's just leaving around demolition explosives in crates? Who rigged up these summoning devices to go off? Where do you even buy a hot pink hard hat? And why would you only leave two devices to collapse three layers of bridges and roadways? 

Mischa: Oh, because the third one was still buried in there somewhere, and now it's bringing construction equipment to life. Yep, that… that tracks I guess. All caught up? Okay, then let's see what's around the bend, today, on The Wandering Path.

[Theme music].

Mischa: The electricity crackles down the hillside, [SFX: electricity sparks], across metal and stone and concrete debris, and condenses around an excavator, [SFX: metallic thuds on the ground], sat atop six spider-like legs. 

[Music begins: suspenseful ringing and ominous synthesizer].

Mayanna: Oh my god. 

Mischa: –which comes to life of its own accord, of its own volition, –

Mayanna: No!

Mischa: – rears back on the back two of its little spider legs, – 

Bex: (Squeals with delight).

Mischa:--  kicks its front ones, and bellows at the entire construction site.

[SFX: deep, hollow growl].

Mayanna: (Shuddering) Ahh.

Bex: Okay, that's kinda terrifying, but also really cute. 

Lyn: Yeah, that’s really sick.

Mayanna: Yeah, it's kind of cute. 

Bex: It's kind of cute. 

Mayanna: Can we befriend it? 

Ian: It's kind of cute? What the fuck are you talking about? 

[Laughter].

Mayanna: It's kicking up its legs, it wants to play! Oh, but we're the toy. Fuck. 

Lyn: (Disappointed) Oh.

[Laughter].

Mischa: Roll initiative! 

[Laughter].

Bex: 19. 

Ian: 7. 

Mayanna: (Laughs). 8. 

Lyn: 11. 

Mayanna: I feel like us going next to each other makes sense though. (Giggles).

Ian: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, it's accurate. It's correct. 

Mayanna: Yeah.

Mischa: The Excavator's bellow, [SFX: deep hollow growl], resounds across the buildings as though shouting down a concrete canyon, and it echoes and vibrates the entire site. The construction crews all drop what they're doing and immediately look around, and a lot of them get very worried looks on their faces.

Mayanna: No! 

Lyn: Oh no. 

Mayanna: I was looking to them to see what I should be feeling, and they're looking concerned, so now I feel even more concerned! 

Mischa: Fran, you're the one who shows up to places where people are concerned now. 

Mayanna: Oh my god! I hate that! I hate that! [Chuckles]. I want to go back to where I was just kind of generally annoyed with people, and they were just excited that I was giving them bread.

Mischa: Same, bestie. Same.

[Laughter].

Mischa: Ibra, you’re first to act. 

Bex: Oh no! 

[Laughter].

Mischa: Really what you want to hear from the combat specialist of the party.

[Laughter].

Bex: Oh no! 

Mayanna: Fuck!

Bex: Where, how far away am I? 

Mischa: I believe the four of you were kind of gathered below on the hillside. Like, this thing was working on the hillside, above you, on the debris pile. And you guys were a little ways down the hill, at the bottom of the hill, standing, I believe, near JJ's dad, Paul, who was overseeing equipment on the site, and the driver of this excavation mech, who y'all had warned that something might happen, and who got out of the machine before. It turns out, you were very correct. 

Bex: I am so glad we got that guy out. 

[Nervous chuckles].

Ian: His name was Ringo. 

Bex: Ringo.

Mayanna: Nice.

Bex: I'm so glad we got Ringo out. 

Mischa: Okay, I guess his name was Ringo, I guess. 

Ian: Nailed it. 

[Laughter].

Mayanna: Yes. 

Mischa: Writin’ it down, Ringo…

[Laughter].

Bex: Okay, so I'm going to rush right into the fray. Like, I think that as soon as this happens, I'm looking at the device, I'm working out a message to Inspector Ravonna, trying to figure out what's going on, when all of a sudden, all chaos breaks loose. So, head pops up immediately as soon as the sound of the bellow happens. And like, just on instinct–I don't think that Ibra drops the device they're holding–think just kind of shoves it into the hands of whoever's next to them, probably JJ and Fran, and just books it. I'm gonna get as close to it as I can.

Mischa: Sure. 

Bex: And try to engage. How close can I get? 

Mischa: roll an athletics check for me.

Bex: Cool. [Dice rolls]. Oh, what's math? 13. 

Ian: (Quietly, laughing) “What's math?” 

Mischa: Yeah, with a 13, it takes a little doing. Terrain is shifting and sort of not stable underneath your feet, but with a 13 you can manage to get up next to it. Yeah. 

Bex: We're going to go for bonus action Hex Magic, [SFX: ominous thrumming] on this adorable, terrifying mech. 

[Music begins: energetic rhythmic percussion and synthwave].

Bex: “Place a curse on the creature you see within range until the spell ends. You deal an extra 1d6 necrotic damage to the target whenever you hit it with an attack. Also choose one ability when you cast the spell. The target has disadvantage on ability checks made with that chosen ability.” 

Mischa: Ooh. 

Bex: I'm gonna go with Dexterity.

Mischa: Okay, nice. 

Bex: And then, what's my action? I think I'm just gonna hit.

Mischa: Yeah. Legit. 

Bex: (Giggling) Legit Hit!

Ian: Too legit to hit? 

Lyn: Nice!

Mischa: Alright. I said a word and it rhymed. Get it–We all get it out now. We all heard it. [Chuckles]. Yeah. You just swing out your naginata, your sacred blade, [SFX: metallic shwing], and swing at – what? this excavator's leg?

Bex: I'm going for a load-bearing leg if I can.

Mischa: Sure. 

Mayanna: Nice. 

[Dice rolls].

Bex: 19 to hit. 

Mischa: 19 will hit. 

Bex: 1d10. Plus three. 

Mischa: Plus hex. 

Bex: Plus hex! [Dice rolls]. Ah, 9 plus 4 plus 3. 16! 

Mischa: Nice. 

Bex: 16 damage with 4 necrotic. 

Lyn: Hell yeah.

Mischa: So describe to me, if you will, how this hex sort of makes this metal construction equipment more vulnerable to the metal of your blade. 

Mayanna: (Appreciatie hum).

Bex: It sort of causes a corrosiveness to it, where it causes rust. It instantly necrotizes. It instantly rusts the leg that it's struck.

Mischa: Very cool. And so yeah, you swing down, [SFX: whip through the air, clang of metal, ringing echo], and like, carve out a slice of rust into this thing's leg. 

Bex: That's bonus action. That's– I think that's everything. And then I yell to everybody, 

Bex (Ibra): Get ready!

Mayanna: Oh boy!

[Laughter]. 

Mischa: Yeah, you shout “get ready.” You turn back to make sure your friends are prepared. And you almost miss the fact that this thing just raises its leg up to take a swat at you.

[Music begins, suspenseful ambient echoes].

[SFX: hollow metallic growl].

All: (Gasps).

Lyn: Oh no.

Mischa: 15 to hit? 

Bex: Won't hit. 

Mayanna: Ooh!

Mischa: Okay. You manage to hear the air behind your head moving, [SFX: speed ramping rumble], and like, you dodge roll to the side. 

Bex and Mayanna: Sick. 

Mischa: You turn around to see it has taken its forelimb and swatted at you. Like, I don't know if the construction equipment manufacturing company intended for this thing to swat at civilian pedestrians, [Laughter], but it looks like an awkward motion that this thing is like trying to contort itself a little bit in its new form to do the things, all the things it wants to do. It misses, it swipes, and then its momentum kind of carries it off its feet a little bit, but it corrects itself and tries to raise up its two frontmost legs to slam down on you again.

Mayanna: Wow. 

Mischa: [Dice rolls]. Even worse. 

[Laughter].

Bex: Yeah. 

Mayanna: Nice! 

Mischa: So I think what happens is the, the drag of this leg, the thing– it doesn't have like a great sense of exactly where its limbs are at any point, so it drags through the debris material–

Bex: Nice

Mischa: –and that sort of cascades down and you can use that to, like, slip out of its range.

[SFX: rocks tumbling].

Bex: Sick. 

Mischa: Cool. JJ, it's your turn. 

Lyn: Oh gosh!

Mayanna: (Giggles).

[Music fades, soundscape begins. Ambient sound of worksite now frozen to a halt, with sound of cars in the far distance].

Lyn: So I believe last time, we– I, had already cast Sanctuary on my dad. 

Mischa: Hundred percent correct, yeah.

Lyn: So that is still up, and it's not concentration, which we love. 

Mayanna: Thank god. 

Lyn: Just… Putting that out there, that's happening.

[Laughter].

Mayanna: That just happened. 

Lyn: It's happening.

Mischa: Looks me dead in the eye. (Through gritted teeth) “It's happening! Don't hurt my dad!”

Lyn: It’s happening!

Mayanna: Don't kill Paul! 

Lyn: No! 

All: (Jockingly panicked) Paul! Paul! Paul! Paul!

[Laughter].

Lyn: (Pausing) I don't call him Paul. 

Mayanna: Dad!

Lyn: Dad! 

Ian: And there's a small slime monster off to the side that just goes, (garbled) “Paul!”

Mischa: Welcoming Glorpo to the campaign. 

[Laughter].

Mayanna: Glorpo!

[Music begins: pulsing, rhythmic synths].

Lyn: Yeah, so, seeing this, I yell out to my dad, 

Lyn (JJ): Stay back, please! 

Lyn: And then I will cast Bless on my three fellow party members.

Mischa: Nice.

Lyn (JJ): We got this. I think –we got this! We got this! Everyone stay back! Please!

[Laughter].

Mayanna (Fran): Oh, you had it until you said, please. You really– you got to sit in your power, JJ. 

Lyn (JJ): Stay back! 

Mayanna (Fran): There you go. Great. End of sentence. 

Ian (Gordon): (whispering) Good job. 

Lyn: Thumbs up. A very, very panicked thumbs up. 

[Laughter].

Mayanna: Yeah! 

Lyn: The thumbs up is actually how I cast Bless.

[Laughter].

Mischa: That's so funny! 

Bex: Actively vibrating with fear.

Mischa: We got verbal, we got somatic, we got material, we're doing great! 

[Laughter].

Lyn: Yeah, so when I give that really awkward thumbs up, what that does is the Astra in my, like, watch bracer thing goes through my little thumbs up, and then it's weirdly like a little emoji appears over the chests of all my party members in, [SFX: a shimmering ring], like, green and white, and it becomes like a thumbs up wrapped in jasmine flowers–

Bex: Aw.

Lyn: –as I believe in them strongly and don't want them to fail.

Bex: (Squeaks).

Ian: That’s so cute.

Mischa: Yeah, you give all of your friends, like, a little glowing superhero emblem of protective, helpful magic. 

Lyn: Mhmm.

Mischa: Incredible.

Lyn: Via thumbs up. 

[Laughter]. 

Bex: (Squeals). I need fanart of this immediately. 

Lyn: Great, okay, that's it. 

Mayanna: That’s cool.

[Music fades out].

Ian: You guys can cut this, but whenever I ask people to tell me what their Bless looks like, they stop texting me back.

[Laughter].

Mischa: Ian, I have to tell you, there's no way I'm gonna cut that. 

[Laughter].

Mayanna: “I told you what my Bless looks like, please respond.”

[Laughter].

Bex: “I described my Bless for you.” 

Ian: Oh, fuck me. 

Mischa: Fran, it's your turn. 

[Music begins: mellow and pensive synth plucks].

Mayanna: Awesome, can I do some kind of perception check to just see if I can get a better understanding of where, like, the power source for this mech comes from?

Mischa: Yeah!

Mayanna: Cool. Just raw perception? 

Mischa: Yeah.

Mayanna: Sweet. [Dice rolls]. Oh, oh, oh. That's just a 9. That's just a 9. 

Ian: Doesn't sound like it went well. 

Mayanna: It didn't go great. It didn't go great. It's-it's far away-ish. 

Mischa: Yeah, it's, I mean, it was washed in a flow of electrical current, which spread from the top of the collapsed overpass highway, down the debris field. And you have to imagine. Some of that power is probably powering the thing. 

Mayanna: That sounds about right! I think so! I'm gonna pull out my gun. 

[Laughter].

Bex: So anyway, I start blasting. 

Ian: Oh my fucking god. That's a party point, sorry. 

[Laughter].

Mischa: Yeah, yeah, legit. I'll ask this, where– so this is like a large construction vehicle. Where are you aiming? 

Mayanna: I think I want to aim for where the driver, like where the steering wheel or the controls– 

Mischa: Yeah, the cockpit!

Mayanna: Yeah, the cockpit.

Mischa: Yeah, for sure!

Mayanna:  I want to aim for those controls. 

Mischa: Okay, sick. 

Mayanna: Yeah, and I have sighted on my gun.

Mischa: Yeah! Oh, so your range is up for your parlor gun because you dipped your bullets. 

Mayanna: In magic.

Mischa: Sick.

Mayanna: Yes. Okay, cool. So then it's just like a general roll to hit? 

Mischa: Yeah. 

Mayanna: Cool, great. [Dice rolls]. Ohh. 6. 

Lyn: Plus a d4. 

Mayanna: Oh my god, thank you so much. Ooh, that's a 3, so that's a 9. [Laughter]. But don't I get a plus 5 with sighted? Is that what that, that's what it's, I think it's like, plus 5 to hit range. 

Mischa: Plus 50 to the range.

Mayanna: Oh, okay. Nevermind. 

Ian: None of it correct. Just none of it. [Laughter]. The grammar, the numbers.

Mayanna: Yeah, I'm doing great. (Giggles).

Mischa: Yeah.

Bex: So what I'm learning right now is “Fran” is short for “Frantic.”

Mayanna: Yes! 

Mayanna (Fran): (Panicked yelps).

Mischa: Yeah, you fire a wild shot off and I think it just pings off the metal pole.

[SFX: bullet fires and ricochets].

Mayanna (Fran): (Frustrated) Oh my god! Ah! 

Mayanna: That's it– and I get frustrated.

Mischa: You hear a whisper of a memory in the back of your mind, Thorgunn telling you, 

Mischa (Thorgunn): (Echoey, in a flashback) Anything worth doing is worth taking your time.

Mayanna (Fran): (Gasps) Yes.

[Music fades out].

Mayanna: And then I start to meditate on that thought as I prepare for my next move. 

Mischa: And then the rest of the whisper goes through. 

Mischa (Thorgunn): That is why I have not moved from this Pachonko seat in a week. 

[Laughter].

Mayanna (Fran): Oh my god. You have to change your pants at the very least. You have to. Please, for me. For everyone. Thorgunn, let me just get you new pants.

[Laughter].

Mayanna: So I'm just thinking that to myself. 

Bex: I'm in pain. 

Mischa: Gordon, it's your turn. 

[Music begins: ambient, thoughtful thrumming].

Ian: Okay. So I think normally Gordon would be absolutely terrified–

Mischa: Yeah.

Ian: –but as we recall, last episode, Gordon was playing a little detective, you know, 

Mischa: Yeah!

Ian: Just taking a little control. 

Bex: He saw some shit. 

Ian: He saw some shit. He took some names or he's about to, maybe, hopefully.

Mayanna: (Laughs).

Ian: Come on, dice. I've also been really contemplating where this– the mechanics of this mysterious bag of muffin bombs lives, because I've had it with me everywhere. 

Mischa: Sure! That's such a good question and I really wanted to ask you about this because I cannot imagine that it's just like the Hamburglar's sack over his shoulder or–

Ian: I think I was actually thinking that it is a sack, but I've tied a rope to the bottom and the top of it, so I'm wearing it like a messenger bag.

Mayanna: Oh I love that.

Bex: Awww.

Mischa: Sure! Yeah, no, I do like– a muffin– like a little fanny pack you swivel around, pull a muffin, and chuck it. Oh, that's great! 

Mayanna: Oh that’s sick.

Mischa: And then, you can keep your little reagent vials on the strap. 

Ian: The vials– yeah.

Mischa: Perfect.

Mayanna (Fran): And if you need any, like, accessories, or any sort of, like, leather work situation, like, we can have a conversation about that.

Lyn: So it's a bread bomb bandolier? 

[Laughter].

Bex: I love you, Lyn. 

Mischa: That's a party point to Lyn .

Ian: That's a party point! 

[Cheers].

Ian: Holy shit. Okay, so, having seen some shit, I do that thing that young anime heroes have done a million times, where I set my jaw and I go,

Ian (Gordon): (Determined grunt).

Ian:  And one-one foot slides back into the dirt, [SFX: crumbling shift on loose ground], and I reach into my bandolier, and I pull out, like, just a standard basic bomb.

Mischa: Okay. 

Mayanna: (Whispering) Nice.

Mischa: So you pull out a muffin and take one of your little potion vials and inject it. [SFX: click, hiss of air] And what color does it turn when it's just a basic bomb? 

Ian: It's like, it's like orange-red. And it starts fizzing and sparking a little bit. 

[SFX: air hissing as chemical reaction catylyzes].

Mayanna: (Gasp).

Ian: (Imitates rumbling vibrations).

Mischa: Yeah, it like rumbles in your hand, getting ready to throw. 

Ian: A hundred percent. And I'm not scared at all. 

[Laughter].

Bex: Oh my god, I love this. 

Ian: And I roll– [Dice rolls]. Fuck. A 14. 

Mischa: Did you add a d4 for bless? 

Ian: I did, I rolled a 10 and a 4. 

Mayanna: I'm sorry.

Bex: You don't add anything to your throws? 

[Music fades out. Soundscape begins: open air with distant sound of traffic].

Ian: Do I? I don't think so, do I? 

Lyn: For thrown–?

Mischa: It should be on the part of the bomb thing. It says plus something to hit. 

Ian: Oh, plus 5 to hit.

Bex: (Gasp).

Lyn: So that would be a 19 total.

Bex: 19!

[Music begins: building rhythmic guitar].

Mayanna: Ohh.

Mischa: Oh, well a 19's gonna hit! 

Mayanna: Yeah!

Ian: Shit, shit has changed. 

[Laughter].

Mayanna: Yeah!! 

Ian: Shit has massively changed. 

Mischa: So, you chuck this thing and it gets lodged up into its underbelly and [SFX: pop explosion] explodes from underneath. 

Ian: This is going well. 

Mischa: Yeah. 

Ian: Fuck yeah. 

Mischa: Go ahead and roll damage. That's fire damage, right?

Mayanna: Oooh, fire damage!

Ian: Yeah, fire damage.1d10 plus– 

[Music builds: energetic garage percussion].

Mischa: Plus 4. Right?

Ian: Yeah, plus 4 because it says it's primed. 11. 

Mischa: Whoa!

Mayanna: Ooh!

Mischa: Huge.

Mayanna: That's two hits.

Bex: Gorgeous!

Mischa: This thing sort of groans and rolls to its side, [SFX: low, creaking metal and falling rocks], trying to steady its feet after the debris slid, and you just see a big old scorch mark right on its belly. 

Mayanna: Nice!

Mischa: Nice work. 

Ian: Thank you. 

All: Good job. 

Ian:  (Singsongy) Gordon's becoming a D&D person.

[Laughter].

[Music fades out, returning to soundscape].

Bex: Anime protagonist, activated!

Mayanna: Yeah.

Mischa: Now is the moment in the turn order where I would like to introduce a new mechanic for the combat!

Mayanna: Oh my god.

Bex: (Whoop).

[Music begins: suspenseful, bopping synths and percussion].

Ian: Oh no.

Mischa: I'm gonna roll to see how many of the construction crew evacuate this turn. [Oohs]. I'm rolling a d3.

Mayanna: Okay.

Mischa: You guys can use your action to make this die bigger. 

Mayanna: Okay. Okay, okay. 

Mischa: So for this turn, three people make it out.

Bex: (softly) Oh, yes.

Mayanna: Okay, and I can roll and add to that, or? 

Mischa: You can use your action to, like, help evacuate. 

Mayanna: Okay, I can do that. I will do that. 

Mischa: Sweet. 

Mayanna: Do I roll for that right now? 

Mischa: No, you gotta do it on your turn. 

Mayanna: I'll do it on my turn. Okay, cool. 

Mischa: You-you shot wildly with your gun this turn. 

Mayanna: I know. Ah! 

Bex: Heh. Yipe!

Ian: (Imitating Mayanna) “I pull out my gun.”

Mischa: I'm starting at a d3. The more people that add to it, the bigger the die gets.

Lyn: Mhmm.

Ian: Got it.

Mayanna: Cool. 

Mischa: I said last time that there were about 30 people in this construction site, and three people just got out. 

Mayanna: Okay. Okay, that's 27 left. 

Mischa: Good math. 

Mayanna: Thank you. 

Lyn: Nice. 

Mayanna: Thank you. 

Ian: She's getting better. 

Mayanna: Yeah! 

Lyn: We need a spin down die for this. 

[Laughter].

Mischa: Ibra, back to you.

Bex:  First, I'm gonna, I know that this isn't using my action to help evacuate, but I am going to yell to the rest of the crew, 

Bex (Ibra): It's time to go! You should go! Please go! 

Bex: And I'm going to Warden's Mark as my bonus action. 

[SFX: mysterious arcane pulse].

Mischa: Awesome. 

Bex: So while it's within five feet of me, it has disadvantage on attack rolls against any creatures other than me. The mark lasts for one minute or until I mark another creature or become incapacitated. 

Mischa: Okay. Yeah, can you, describe Warden's Mark? Like, what does it look like? 

Bex: You know, it looks a little funky when Ibra casts magic, cause they just glow a little bit. Basically– They're made of Astra. 

Mischa: Yeah, it's like in your blood. 

Bex: Yeah, their-their blue hue that they always have just glows a little bit. You can tell that there's something a little bit otherworldly about it almost. And it makes Ibra glow to the enemy.

Mischa: Oh it's like an anglerfish. 

Bex: Yeah. 

[Understanding hums].

Mischa: Where it's like, it's like making bright lights to attract the thing's attention. 

Bex: Yeah. 

Mischa: Cool. I think, I think it glows most on the birthmark on your forehead. 

Bex: Very much so. 

Mischa: It turns almost into like a little bit of a glowing tiara, maybe?

Bex: Like there's, there's a lot of hair that Ibra likes to keep in the way of that big old birthmark on their forehead, but you can–there is actively, like, light glowing through the hair this time, and it's weird. 

Ian: Do you create your own wind, too, so your hair's sort of, like, blowing around and up a little bit?

Bex: Well, in this battle, because it's an anime protagonist battle, absolutely. 

[Laughter].

Mischa: Something about the blue glow of your skin, like, reflects back into the glass panels of the Excavator. And it sort of, like, flashes across in that like, anime glasses kind of way and, like, you catch its eye. It focuses in on you.

Mayanna: (Whispering) Awesome. 

Bex: Sick. And then I'm gonna hit it. 

Mischa: Yeah, classic hitting. 

Mayanna: Yeah, whip out that sword. 

Bex: Boom. Boom. 

Ian (Gordon): So crazy, by the way, that the glowing figure is our friend who was in the bee costume. 

Mayanna (Fran): I know! (Giggles).

Ian (Gordon): You know? 

Mayanna: Classic Final Fantasy protagonist, though, to end up in a giant mascot costume. 

Lyn: Yeah.

 [Laughter].

Mayanna: It happens. A lot. 

Bex: 22 to hit. 

Mayanna: Yes. 

Mischa: Yeah, I would think so. Yes. 

[Laughter].

Lyn: Did you add d4 to that? 

Bex: I thought about it. 

[Laughter].

Lyn: You thought about it.

Bex: But I didn’t. Plus 1. 

Mayanna: Yay!

Bex: 23.

Mischa: I think a 23 will also hit. Let me check my math real quick.

Bex: It was really close there, it was touch and go. 

Mischa: Yeah, I think so. 

Ian: It would have been crazy if 23 didn't hit. 

Lyn: Yeah it’s actually a parabola curve.

Mayanna: It would have been like, ‘that's too many, actually.’ 

Ian: Man, sorry, we went too hard. 

Bex: 5 slashing damage and 6 necrotic.

Mischa: Whoa, big necrotic money! 

Bex: Yeah, maxed out on the necrotic damage. 

Mayanna: Nice. 

Lyn: Hell yeah.

Mischa: So, yeah, so I think this one is a wider swing of the naginata, [SFX: whoosh, metal clang], but like, as soon as you hit, [SFX: glowing hum], the infection–the hex infection seems to have spread a little further through this mech. And like where you slice on its leg the rust kind of like spreads out a little bit and sort of starts taking up the whole foreleg .

Mayanna: Ooh.

Bex: Oh, sick.

Mischa: Dope and fresh!

Bex: And then I'm just gonna use my movement to stay within the five foot, and I'm just gonna shift so that any strikes – if it's gonna fall it's not gonna fall on anyone, so if it attacks me and misses and topples it won't topple on to anybody. It's just sort of like shifting it so it's facing me and not facing anybody else.

Mischa: Got it. Copy. 

[Music fades out].

[SFX: machine motor whirring. Two deep thuds hitting the ground]. 

Mischa: It stares you down and digs its two feet into the dirt and stands over you in a menacing fashion and rears back and bellows right into your face, [SFX: hollow, metallic roar]. 

[Music begins: ominous bass thrumming and echoey rattling].

Mischa: And then the bellow cuts off halfway and it raises the cockpit up, almost like it's sniffing the air. 

Bex: Oy.

Mayanna: Oh my god.

Ian: I'm really weirded out by the animal behaviors of this–

Mayanna: Robot? Yeah.

Ian: Mech.

[SFX: slow clamor of motor turning].

Mischa: And it turns away from you up the hillside and charges [SFX: building, buzzing hum], the excavation laser on its back and fires a beam of force, [SFX: loud hum and buzzing impact] directly into the center of the pile. 

Bex: Disadvantage, because it's an attack at something that's not me. 

Mayanna: (Gasp).

Mischa: Damn. 

[Laughter].

Ian: Wow. Fuck yes. 

Mayanna: Yes! 

Mischa: Well.

[Dice rolls].

Ian: Eat it, Spider Mech. 

[Laughter].

Mischa: It's-I mean it's a stationary pile of debris, so it is gonna hit.

Bex: It was just for the–just for the flavor of, (mocking noise).

Mayanna: Damn. 

Lyn: Okay, so don't get hit by that laser? 

Bex: Wait. Did it disengage? 

Mischa: No, it's still standing next to you. It's a large creature. 

Bex: Okay.

Mischa: It can- it-it's a big space. 

Bex: Okay. 

Mischa: Yeah, it's gonna do a bunch of damage to the debris pile. 

Mayanna: Oh my god. Is it trying to make a rock slide?

Lyn: It might be looking for something in there. 

Mayanna: Ohh. 

Lyn: We didn't find all of the devices that we think there might be. 

Bex: Oh.

Ian: Oh, shit. 

Mischa: Yeah, there was two devices you found in the pile. One that was successfully– 

Mayanna: Detonated.

Mischa: Detonated? But is detonated really the right word?

Mayanna: It's like, activated. 

Mischa: Yeah, because remember you all–

Lyn: Discharged?

Mischa: Yeah, discharged is probably better because you remember last time you investigated these devices, and you, somebody cast identify on it, I'm pretty sure. Or detect magic?

Lyn: Detect magic.

Mayanna:  Yeah. 

Lyn: We were able to combine into an identify. 

Mischa: And you could tell that it was, it was not, evocation magic, which would be an explosion. It was summoning magic. 

Mayanna: Right, right. 

Lyn: Mhmm.

Mischa: So, you did find two devices, and one was set off. And also you found crates full of construction explosives in the debris pile. So–

Bex: There's probably more. 

Mayanna: Yup.

Mischa: You know, maybe. Who's to say? I couldn't possibly know that. 

[Laughter].

Lyn: Yeah. How would you know? 

Mischa: How would I know? 

[Laughter].

Bex: How would anyone know? 

Mayanna: How would they know?

Mischa: There could be anything in that pile. Even more explosive crates. 

Ian: No one’s gonna know.

[All groan].

Ian: This really puts my bombs in a different, uh, thing, doesn't it? Okey dokey. 

[Laughter].

[Music fades out].

Mischa: JJ, that's your move. 

Lyn: I think I'll use my action to help evacuate people. 

Mischa: Sweet! 

Lyn: That's very me. 

[Music begins: hopeful, ambient synths].

Mischa: Yeah, absolutely, you're gonna up you're gonna upgrade to a d4! 

Lyn: Woohoo! So I'll really like turn to my dad and everyone like, 

Lyn (JJ): You have to get out of here, please. I'm saying please because I mean that! Get out of here. We have this handled. Just evacuate as safely as possible.

Lyn: And I'm gonna bonus action load my gun. 

[Laughter]

.Bex: I feel like that should give advantage. 

Mischa: You guys gotta get out of here! (Imitates cocking a shotgun).

Lyn: Yeah, well it’s a revolver so it starts to spin. (Rolls tongue, imitating spinning).

Mischa: Oh, oh, sick, yeah. 

Mayanna: Oh yes!

Bex: Oh, that's hot. 

Lyn: I go– and I look my dad in the eye and I'm like, 

Lyn (JJ): Dad, we got this, please leave.

Mischa: Yeah, go ahead and roll persuasion. Please. 

Mayanna: Nice. 

Lyn: 17 plus… 0. 17. 

Mischa: Paul sees you in this moment, confident, assured, knowing what to do in a situation, not torn between two or three courses of action, making decisive choices, and just sees in this moment how much you've grown, and nods, and yeah, Paul's gonna be one of the people evacuated this round.

Bex: I got goosebumps!

[Music fades out. Return to soundscape].

Mischa: Fran, that's you. 

Mayanna: Yes, I think I see JJ, and I am inspired as well to help get as many people out as possible, so I'm gonna use my action to help evacuate. 

Mischa: Sweet, we're gonna go up to a d6! 

[Cheers].

Mayanna: Yay, I like that! I think, I was thinking about firing my gun into the air to like, hurry people along.

Mischa: Oh yeah. 

Mayanna: So I, as my bonus action, I'm gonna fire my gun into the air, just like, 

Mayanna (Fran): Get! Out! Now!

Mayanna: Yeah.

Mischa: Sounds good. 

Ian: How many bullets are in that gun? Is it a six shooter? Is it a one?

Mayanna: It's a parlor gun. So, let me see. 

Lyn: The parlor gun is two. 

Ian: Two!

Mayanna: Two. Great. So I'm out of bullets. 

Mischa: Well, you can use your– 

Lyn: Bonus action to reload

Mischa: –bonus action to reload, I believe.

Mayanna: Oh, bonus action to reload. Okay, cool. So, sorry, can I say that me firing my gun in the air was my action to help people evacuate, and then as my bonus action I'm gonna reload two bullets? 

Mischa: Sounds good. 

Mayanna: Yay, Thank you! 

[Laughter].

Ian: Nailed it

Lyn: Nice.

Mayanna: Thorgunn was right, taking my time. 

[Laughter].

Mischa: Gordon, your move. 

[Music begins: exciting, rhythmic synth plucks].

Ian: So how close is the Spider Mech to the hillside? Is it on the hillside? 

Mischa: It's on the hillside. In fact, it stabilizing itself with its six legs–although, you know, two of them are, are a little bit rusty now and it's a little unstable–but the chassis of it sort of like gyroscopically rotates to be level no matter where it's climbing.

Ian: Okay, so I have impact bombs. 

Mischa: Yeah. 

Ian: Right? Which if they, if they hit, they blow the creature in the radius five feet away from the center of the blast. 

Mischa: Sure. 

Ian: My question to you is twofold. One, since the creature's so big, is– does five feet matter in any way to get it sort of, like, off the hillside, slash maybe, I don't know, if it fell, if it was a very successful hit, and/or– no, and/and, would the blast of an impact bomb be as much of a danger of setting off any of the crates, et cetera, that could still be in it, versus like the basic firebomb that I have? 

Mischa: I want you to roll some kind of intelligence thing. This is–it's like about the explosive potential of your bombs, so you can roll intelligence plus your proficiency.  

[Dice rolls].

Ian: So 9 plus 6 is 15. 

Mischa: Yeah, you get a pretty good read on how your blasts are going to affect this thing so that you can be confident when I tell you five feet is not going to do a ton of difference. 

Ian: To get it off the hillside. 

Mischa: To get it off the hillside. Yeah, this thing is big enough that another medium creature can crawl inside of it. It covers, on its own, it covers a span that is larger than five feet. So if you were to knock it five feet, I mean this pile is, you know, 60 feet up into the air, cascades down the entire hillside. Shoving it five feet's not gonna do a ton. 

Ian: So I think considering all of that, I think I'm also going to use my action to help people evacuate because I don't want to start a rockslide that buries us all. 

Mischa: Yeah. Sounds good. 

Ian: So that's what I'm going to do. 

Mayanna: I love that.

Mischa: We're going to go up to a d8. 

Mayanna: That's awesome. 

Lyn: Wow. 

Mayanna: There we go. 

Mischa: Great. 

Bex: Sick.

Ian: Great. Glad I helped. 

Mayanna: Yeah. 

Ian: Watch us, watch us roll at two on the d8. 

Mayanna: No.

Mischa: I mean, That is kind of how it goes. 

Ian: That's how the math rocks work. 

Mischa: Between the three of you who helped evacuate this round, who would like to roll for it? 

Mayanna: Oh my god. 

Lyn: Oh, I'm so nervous. 

Mayanna: I feel like you have a good roll in you.

Ian: I’m doin’ it.

Lyn: Yeah. 

Ian: (Heavy breathing).

Lyn: Bless in real life! 

Ian: Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Thumbs up. Yes. 

Mayanna: Thumbs ups. 

Ian: Four. 

Mayanna: Okay. 

Mischa: Okay!

Mayanna:  I'll take that. 

Lyn: Solid. 

Mischa: And one of them is Paul. 

Mayanna: Yay!

Lyn: Yay! 

Bex: Yay!

Ian: Paul!

Mayanna: 23 left. 

Mischa: Correct. 

[Music fades out].

Mayanna: Yes. When people are on a battlefield in any game, and they're civilians, and they have to escape battle, I am– that is the most important thing to me. I don't know why?

Mischa: Fair!

Lyn: That’s really good instincts

Mayanna: My brain was just– I'm always like “Get out of there! (Panic gibberish).”

Lyn: “They’re not adventurers!”

Mayanna: “They don’t deserve to be here, they were just going to the store, and then monsters showed up, it's not fair to them!”

Bex: “They’ve got five hit points! Get em out!”

Mayanna: They’re level one!”

Lyn: I think they have less than that.

Mischa: And your concerns are warranted and founded because–

Mayanna: (Gasps).

[Music begins: suspenseful humming piano/synths].

Mischa: –on zero count of initiative, as this thing digs into the surface of the debris pile, it is going to cause a minor slide. 

[SFX: low rumbling and rocks sliding].

Mayanna: Oh my god.

Mischa: I need everybody here to make a DEX save please.

[Dice rolls].

Bex: It? Does it have to as well? 

Lyn: All of you can make, add a d4. 

[Dice rolls].

Mayanna: Oh my god, the best DEX save roll of my life. 21. 

Mischa: Nice. 

Ian: Also 21. 

Mischa, Mayanna: Nice! 

Lyn: 19. 

Mischa: Whoa!

Bex: 8. 

Mayanna: No!

Lyn: No! 

Mayanna: No, that’s not–!

Ian: Oh, no! 

Mischa: Yeah, okay. Ibra, yeah, you are standing the closest to it. You're in melee range. 

Mayanna: Oh my god. 

Mischa: Just sort of makes sense. You're going to take 4 bludgeoning damage, and you're gonna roll 10 feet down the hill. [SFX: rocks sliding]. You roll concentration. 

Bex: 19. 

Mayanna: Yeah! 

Mischa: Oh, okay. So, the hex remains. 

Bex: Yeah! 

Mischa: Sweet. Ibra. It's your turn. 

Bex (Ibra): Ow. 

Mischa: Yeah. 

Bex (Ibra): (Coughs).

Bex: What happens with Warden's Mark, because I got moved out of its melee range? 

Mischa: Involuntary movement doesn't do–

Lyn: Doesn't trigger spells. 

Mischa: Doesn’t trigger spells.

Bex: Got it. Can't willingly move away. Got it. Okay. 

Mischa: But now that it is outside of range, it can move away.

Bex: Yes.

Mischa: It seems, not interested in doing that. I seems intent on what it's doing right now. 

Bex: And what it's doing is boring into– 

Mischa: Is using a giant laser to bore into a debris field causing a rock slide onto evacuating construction crew members, yeah. 

Bex: How can I get that laser hit?

Mayanna: Mm.

Bex: How do I hit the laser?

Mayanna: Ooh.

Mischa: Great question. so again, this is a large creature with a cockpit fit for a medium creature. you could crawl up on its back. 

Mayanna: Oh. 

Lyn: Or under its legs, but that's very dicey. 

Mayanna: Yeah, dangerous.

Mischa: Yeah, that, too. Although maybe not for–

Mayanna: Like with a sword, or–

Mischa: –Mx. Combat over here. 

Bex: Yeah. I–

Lyn: Mx. Combat. I love that.

Bex: Mx. Combat? That's fun. I want to dismantle the laser.

Mischa: Okay. 

Mayanna: Nice. 

Bex: If I specifically try to take out the leg joint itself– 

Mischa: Sure. 

Bex: –do I have a chance at throwing it off balance. 

Mischa: Yes. I will say, if you manage to hit it five above its armor, I will let you call your shot on this thing. 

Bex: Okay. Alright. 

Lyn: Mm. I see the minigame

Mayanna: That's a great negotiation. 

Bex: We're doing it. We're going for it.

Mischa: Okay. You gonna attack it?

Bex:  Yeah. Let me see if there's any other bonus actions I can play with. I don't think so. 

Mischa: Oh, you, sorry, you marked it, and you, you can grasp it, I guess, to have it not–

Mayanna: (Mimicking Patrick Star) Firmly grasp it.

[Laughter]. 

Bex: Yeah, I can re-Warden’s Grasp it. Yeah. I'm going to re-Warden’s Grasp it.

[SFX: metallic thunk].

Mischa: Okay, great. 

Bex: 14 plus 5 plus, can I get a d4?

Mischa: Yeah. 

Mayanna: Oh, yep! Here you go. 

Lyn: You want to just hold onto one? 

Bex: Maybe. 

Ian: I'm going to make it first. Aha! 

[Dice rolls].

[Cast screaming and cheering]. 

Ian: I threw it into the box! 

Bex: That is gorgeous. 

Lyn: What did it roll? 

Bex: A 2.

[Laughter].

Ian: That was so sick! 

[Overlapping cheers].

Bex: So that's 5 plus 14 plus 2. 21. 

Mischa: 21 to hit, a party point for Ian, and one of the sickest die rolls I've ever seen, [laughter and cheers] clear across the room. 

Bex: That was gorgeous. 

Mischa: Yeah, a 21 to hit? Hold on, let me check. 

Mayanna: Is that five? 

Mischa: Yeah, it is.

Mayanna: Yes! Yes!

Ian: Fuck yeah! 

Bex: Oh yes! 

[Music begins: triumphant rock]. 

Mischa: You bound up the hill, [SFX: quick footsteps on rubble], and sort of take like a running leap [SFX: cartoonish shwing] and swing your naginata down [SFX: rapid whipping through the air] right onto the leg joint [SFX: metallic clang], and it rusts right through, absolutely. 

Mayanna: Whoa.

All: Wow!

Bex: (Gasp). Max damage on the slashing, so that's 10 plus 3: 13 slashing. And then 4 necrotic.

Mayanna: Oh my god. 

Lyn: Whoa.

Mischa: Incredible! And you lopped one of this thing's legs off. Now listen, it's got five more. It's-it's standing up pretty fine. But yeah, it-there's a momentary dip. 

Mayanna: Whoa. 

Mischa: And, I think, with the rest of your movement, like, now it's an easier ramp. You can, in fact, get up on its back for next turn. 

Bex: Yes!

Mayanna: Oh my god.

Bex: Ah! 

Mayanna: Oh my god! 

Bex: Yeah! 

Mischa: Amazing. 

Lyn: That was incredible.

Bex (Ibra): (Voice cracking) Keep getting the people out, you're doing great! 

Mayanna: Yes! 

[Music shifts to ominous, echoing hums and pulsing drums].

Mischa: Unfortunately, between now and then, it gets its turn. 

Bex: I know. 

Mischa: And so, having shown your proficiency against its legs is going to take a big shot at you. 

Mayanna: Oh. 

Mischa: It's gonna charge its laser and fire. 

Lyn: Oh jeez. 

Mischa: you're at melee range for a ranged weapon, so I'm gonna roll with disadvantage.

Bex: (Relieved) Yes! 

Mayanna: Oh! 

Mischa: Sorry, I got thrown by the fact that I rolled an 18 and a Nat 1. 

Lyn: Oh! Whew!

Mischa: Yeah. A Nat 1?

Bex: It hits itself! 

Mischa: Well, I, to be perfectly honest, I think what happens is, it tries to swing its laser around, [SFX: motor rattling, gears turning, large metallic steps], like, you're a flea on this big spider's back, and it, like, swings its cannon arm around to get you. And like, you're just too– like, you can duck underneath the barrel, like it can't– You- there's no point anymore at which you're in front of its barrel, so it just, hundred, like, there's no way it could've hit you, so it misses.

Bex: (Happily squeals).

Mayanna: Wow. 

Mischa: Um. It's still gonna fire though. 

Ian: Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what I was thinking. 

Mayanna: No!

Bex: Yeah, that's the problem. I was hoping that the Nat 1 –

Ian: (Singsong) What’s below it in the rubble. 

Mischa: Yeah, it's tilted. It's on its side. It's sort of in this rubble. The evacuees are below it on the hill. I don't think there's any danger of it hitting the evacuees, but there is a chance of it further collapsing this bridge.

Mayanna: Oh god. 

Mischa: So I think I'm gonna roll a d4 to see what direction it fires in. and you don't want a 1. 

Bex: Ah, okay. 

[Dice rolls].

Ian: That's a 1. 

Mischa: That's a 1.

[Groans].

Bex: That's a 1. 

Ian: Look at it on the table. Look at that 1. 

Lyn: Yeah, that's a 1. 

Bex: Well, shit.

Mischa: The laser swings around and blasts out additional pillars of the overpass. [SFX: laser charges, rock explosions]. Now, no one's above it. This whole place has been evacuated except debris is gonna start raining down, [SFX: rocks tumbling, rumbling building in intensity], and that landslide's gonna be even worse.

Mayanna: Oh my god. 

Ian: This was going so great. 

Mischa: Yeah, I think,

Bex:  I'm sorry. I'm so sorry y'all. 

Mayanna (overlapping): No, this is good. No, no, don't apologize. Don't apologize. 

Ian (overlapping): Was it your fault? You didn't roll the Nat 1. The spider mech did. 

Lyn: (Laughing). 

Mischa: Yeah…

Mayanna: The spider mech's doing exactly what it wants to do. 

Mischa: It's definitely gonna have to dodge this, but so are you all. 

Mayanna: Oh my god. Okay. 

Bex: It has disadvantage on dexterity saves. 

Mischa: Well, it certainly does. And you just cut off one of his legs, so that's not good for it. 

Bex: And now it has extra damage.

Mischa: Yeah, no, sorry, I think the entire dynamic of this combat just changed in five seconds. 

Mayanna: I love it, this is good. 

Lyn: Yeah!

Mischa: I think we all need to roll dex saves. I'll roll with disadvantage. 

All: Yes.

Lyn: Yes, that makes sense.

Mayanna: And we do, and you add bless to that too. 

Lyn: Yes, saving throws, you can add it. 

Mayanna: Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. 

Bex: I feel partially responsible.

[Dice rolls].

Lyn: 15.

Mayanna: No, it's okay, it's okay. let's see here. 8 plus 3 is 11. 

Bex: 22. 

[Dice rolls].

Ian: Oh, no. 

Mayanna: No, what happened? 

Ian: Oh, no.

Mayanna: No, what happened? 

Ian: That's a 2 plus a 1 plus a 3. That'd be a 6. 

[Groans].

Mischa: Yeah. 

Bex: That's not good. 

Ian: That's a bad. 

Lyn: Oh, jeez. 

Ian: And Gordon's–

Bex: Squishy!

Ian: –not strong. 

Mayanna: I know! I know!

Mischa: Okay. Anyone who rolled a 13 or above is going to take 7 damage. Fran and Gordon, I believe–

Ian: (Mumbling) I dunno, I’m unconscious, I believe.

Mischa: You are going to take 15 bludgeoning damage–

Bex: Oh!

Ian: Fuck!

Mayanna: Oh boy! Okay!

Lyn: Are you down?

Ian: Yes.

Mischa: –and are knocked prone. 

Mayanna: And knocked prone?!

Ian: I have 13 hit points. 

Lyn: Oh my gosh. 

Mayanna: Wait, you're unconscious? 

Bex: Yeah.

Ian: I have 13 hit points and I just took 15 bludgeoning. 

Mayanna: Oh my god. Okay. I'm at four and I'm prone. I'm going to immediately prioritize. 

Lyn: I can-I can handle this.

Mayanna: You can handle it? 

Lyn:  I can handle it. 

Mayanna: Okay.  

Ian: I saw the look on Mischa's face. Where the game turned and I was like, “I'm about to be out of this, out of this lineup for a second.”

Mayanna: It's okay. 

Bex: I feel partially responsible. I'm very sorry. 

Mayanna: (Overlapping) No. You are doing great. 

Ian: (Overlapping) It's not your fault! We're on a hillside. 

Bex: We’re blaming the spider mech.

Mayanna: You are, yeah, the spider mech is that– we hate them. We love you. 

Mischa: JJ, additional parts of the bridge have now collapsed. The entire worksite is difficult terrain.

Lyn: Okay.

Mischa: I think you guys are going to take a penalty to the evacuation rolls. 

Mayanna: Oh boy. 

Lyn: Aw, jeez.

Mischa: But it is your turn.

Lyn: Okay. I see that Gordon got bonked on the noggin and is out. [Laughter]. And Fran does not look good. So they're going to be my first priority. Oh wait, I also have to do a concentration.

Bex: Oh, right.

Lyn: Yeet. So we're good. 

Mayanna: (Morose) Yay. 

Lyn: A sad time for a natural yeet, I guess.

Mayanna: (Monotone) Hooray.

Lyn: A little, unnecessary.

[Dice rolls].

Bex: 16.

Mayanna: (Laughing) “A little unnecessary.” 

Lyn: That one was a little unnecessary, but I will use– I'll run up to Gordon. We're not super far from each other though, right? 

Mischa: (Sigh).  Can you roll athletics for me? 

Ian: Fuck. 

Mayanna: (Laughs). I hate that.

Ian: It's gonna go poorly.

Lyn: Athletics– 18. 

Mayanna: Nice! 

Ian: Ooh!

Mayanna: Spoke too soon!

Mischa: You wait until the the shifting terrain sort of settles a little bit before you try to bound across it. Yeah, you can get there. 

Lyn: Cool. So I will use my Channel Divinity, Balm of Peace. [SFX: echoing chimes of large bells] As an action I can move up to my speed without provoking opportunity. When I move within 5 feet of any other creature during this action, you can restore 2d6 plus 3 HP to that creature. 

Mayanna: What?! 

Mischa: Yes! 

Ian: Wow. 

Mayanna: Oh my god! 

Ian: Wow, we got some good health stuff. 

[Dice rolls].

Lyn: 5, 7, plus 3, you regain 10 HP.

Bex: Ooh.

Lyn: And then– 

Ian: That's most of my HP. 

Lyn: Mhmm. And then, bonus action healing word on Fran. 

Mayanna: Oh my god, thank you.

Lyn: I’m out of spell slots now.

Bex: We love a cleric. 

Mayanna: Okay. 

Bex: You have cantrips, right? 

Mayanna: Good to know. 

Lyn: I have some cantrips. (Afar) 1d4 plus 3. [Dice rolls]. You regain 5 HP. 

Mayanna: Cool, so I'm at 9. 

Bex: We love a healer. 

Ian: So it goes like this. I go,

Ian (Gordon): Oh no! Ah! (Grunts). [SFX: thud. Radiant chime].  Ah!

Lyn: Yeah, and I go, 

Lyn (JJ): You're okay! Fran, you're okay too! 

Mayanna (Fran): Okay! 

Ian (Gordon): Okay! 

Mayanna (Fran): So you said it with confidence, so I believe you! 

Ian (Gordon): Everything's fine?!

[Laughter].

Mischa: And yeah, you're sitting on the debris pile, so you're prone, so you're gonna have to use half of your movement to stand next turn.

Ian: Got it. 

Mischa: But–

Ian: But I'm not dead. 

Mischa: But you're not dead, which is great. 

Mayanna: Oh my god, awesome. 

Ian (Gordon): Hey, thank you. 

Lyn (JJ): Thank you. Keep going. 

Mayanna: Ooh! 

Ian: Whoa! 

Bex: Gorgeous, JJ.

Mayanna: Strong.

Bex: Get ‘em.

Ian: That was a vibe. 

[Music shifts: tense synth plucks].

Mischa: Fran, that's you. 

Mayanna: Okay, great. I'm gonna use my half movement to stand, and then I think, I'm still, uh… I'm out of my depth here. I have a gun and that's it, so I think I'm gonna keep helping evacuate civilians.

Mischa: Sick. We're up to a d4. 

Mayanna: Yes. Good. Okay, good. I'm like, 

Mayanna (Fran): I'm so glad you're not dead, Gordon! 

Mayanna: And then I start going to help more civilians. 

Mischa: Okay, great. 

Mayanna: Yeah. 

Mischa: Gordon, that's you. 

Ian: I'm definitely still a little scrambled, I feel like. And I feel like bombs are still a mistake. But I'm mad, but I think I just sort of like, use half my action to get up, and then try to amble down and help people get away.

Mischa: Sure. 

Ian: Because I'm like, holding my brain, which has been severely– 

Mayanna: Hit. 

Ian: Hit. 

Mayanna: Yeah. 

[Laughter].

Lyn: Just got concussed then un-concussed so fast, which I don't think feels better. 

Ian: Mental whiplash is what that's called. 

Mischa: It's like your brain was the hood of a car that gets like dented, and you pop it out real quick. 

Ian: Oh god.

[Laughter].

Lyn: It’s a good thing we’re wearing hard hats.

Ian: That's true. That's true. I'd be dead otherwise. 

Mayanna: That's right we’re wearing hard hats. 

Mischa: And that's why you should use your safety equipment.

[Laughter].

Lyn: True. This has been an OSHA approved podcast. 

[Laughter].

Mischa: Okay, it's evacuation roll time. You guys are up to a d6. 

Mayanna: Hooray. 

Mischa: Do you want to roll at this time, Mayanna? 

Mayanna: I'm scared. 

Bex: I believe in you.

[Dice rolls].

Mayanna: 6! 

[Cheers].

Mischa: Nice! 

Mayanna: Yay! Okay. 

Bex: Max evacuation! 

Lyn: 17, because we were at 23 minus 6. 

Mischa: Well, I did say I was gonna give you a penalty to the roll, so it's gonna be minus 1, but 5 is still great. 

Mayanna: Five! Yay!

Bex: Five is huge.

Lyn: So that's 18 left. 

Mischa: Yeah. You guys are, down from 30 to 18. Pretty good.

Mayanna: Okay.

Mischa: You know, I think people after the rest of the bridge starts collapsing, I think, you know, supervisors and like shift managers start getting the picture and tell their crews to start get going.

Mayanna: Mhmm. 

Ian: I think like as I'm ambling down the hill to help people, I turn back to Ibra and I go, 

Ian (Gordon): It doesn't want us to find whatever's in the hillside! We have to stop it! 

Bex (Ibra): There's something in the hillside? 

Ian (Gordon): I think so!

Bex (Ibra): Okay! I'll stop the laser. 

Mayanna (Fran): Yes!

Bex: And with that, I'm gonna finish climbing up it. I'm going to use all of my movement to get to the laser. And then I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna hit it. 

Mischa: Yeah.

Mayanna: Do it. 

Mischa: So again, if you hit five above it's AC, you can call your shot. 

[Dice rolls].

Lyn: You can still add a d4 also.

Bex: I did, it's 15 plus 5: dirty 20. 

Mayanna: Nice!

Mischa: A dirty 20 is good, but it's not 5 above it's AC, so you're still gonna hit it and deal that damage along with that rust corrosion damage as well.

[Dice rolls].

Bex: Cool. 8 slashing and then maxed out: 6 necrotic. 

Mayanna: Nice!

Lyn, Mischa: Whoa! 

Mischa: I'm gonna, like, there was one bomb from Gordon, but the amount of damage that Ibra's just–

Lyn: Yeah. 

Mischa: –laying into this thing while the– most of the rest of you are just evacuating people. 

Mayanna: This is a good situation, yeah. 

Lyn: Tank!

Bex: Tank! Tank! Tank! Tank!

Ian: (joining in) Tank! Tank! Tank!

Mischa: Yeah, it's, you know, I think, I think there's kind of a moment where, like, you swing the naginata down, [SFX: metallic swing and clang], and start, like, carving rust slices in the barrel of the laser itself.

Bex: Sick.

Mischa: And then, like, you swing it around, [SFX: rapid whipping through the air], and sort of stand on a pole, like, like a standard bearer on top of this hill. And, like, as you survey the excavation, being like, “Go! I got this!” (Imitates blade shine) Shing! 

Mayanna: Yes! 

Ian: As you're glowing. 

Mayanna: Yeah, glowing. Third eye. Anime wind. 

Mischa: Ibra, that's your attack. Do you have another bonus action you want to do? Any? You're–you're good at sitting up atop of this thing, so you don't have to move. 

[Music fades out].

Bex: It's still grasped, so it can't willingly move away from me without disengaging, even though I'm on its back. 

Mischa: Yeah, now that's interesting. 

Bex: Yeah. It– interesting. I'm on its back. 

Mischa: You're on its back, so it can't move away from you, but also, it's impossible for it to move anywhere without being near you?

Bex: It can't-it can't willingly move away without disengaging. 

Mischa: Right.

Bex: So it can disengage from fighting me on its back and move away. 

Mischa: I don't, I don't think so. 

Bex: It can move with me on its back?

Mischa: I think it can move with you on its back. 

Bex: But it can't fight anything that's not me. 

Mischa: That's true because of your Warden's Mark, right? They're two separate abilities? 

Bex: Yes. Warden's Grasp is, you can't move, and each large or smaller creature you choose within five feet can't willingly move away without disengaging. And then Warden's Mark is, when it's within five feet of me, it has disadvantage on attack rolls against creatures other than me.

Mischa: Yeah, so, I think, unfortunately, due to the physics of this narrative, Warden's Grasp is a little ineffectual while you're on its back.

Bex: Fair.

Mischa: I think the mark is still in play. But I think that, yeah, maybe, maybe this is a thing you only learn in the moment.

[Music begins: reflective, resonant pads].

Mischa: That like, all of your combat training has been against medium sized creatures and all of a sudden you're on the back of a thing and you're like, how do I stop this from moving?

[SFX: rattling and rumbling. Heavy steps]. 

Mayanna: Yeah. 

Bex (Ibra): It's still moving! Why is it still moving? It's not supposed to be able to do this! Why is it moving?! 

[Laughter]. 

Mischa: So as this thing begins its turn, I think it's going to realize how ineffectual trying to hit you with the laser beam was. [SFX: laser beam charges]. You're on its back. I think it's going to charge up its laser to try to hit the pile again, the debris pile.

Bex: I mean, it's still got disadvantage, so. 

Mischa: Still got disadvantage. [Dice rolls]. Oh, good thing, too. The corrosion that you've laid into it with your blade sort of causes the turret that the laser is attached to to, like, stutter. Its targeting systems are off a little bit. I think it only, like, skims the edge of the pile with the force beam [SFX: humming thud]. And so, no landslide this turn. 

Bex: (Relieved sigh).

Mayanna: Oh my gosh. 

Ian: Fuck yeah

Mischa: Nice work. 

Bex (Ibra): We’re doing great y’all!!

Mayanna (Fran): Yeah! 

Ian: (Humming) There's no landslide in this turn. 

[Laughter].

Mischa: This thing has taken A pretty decent chunk of damage. And, with all of these, like, slices through its metal chassis with, like, rust sort of spreading out. Yeah, it-the electricity that's powering it sort of starts crackling around it, a little wildly. [SFX: lightning crackles and zaps].

Mayanna: Whoa. 

Mischa: Be careful, Ibra. Careful up there. But for now, JJ's turn. 

Lyn (JJ): Oh gosh!

[Music shifts: contemplative piano].

Lyn: No, JJ is still very focused on the civilians here. So I will, I can't do that. Concentration? Difficult-difficult to balance as far as spellcasting. Is everyone still below us? Like, we're not immediately near the civilians you need to evacuate, is that the situation? Like, everyone's below while we're at the platform?

Mischa: Yeah, you guys are sort of at the base of the pile and everyone's moving back towards the entrance of the construction site, which was on flat ground, which is like where, Ibra, where your bike is parked, etc. 

Mayanna: Hmm. 

Lyn: Got it. 

Mischa: The trailer where you guys stole hardhats from. 

Mayanna: Yes.

Lyn: Mhmm. You know, that–

Bex: Percy!

Lyn: –little thing.

Mayanna: Classic. Classic hero shit. 

[Music fades out].

Mischa: One of the evacuating people, who's dressed in like, hot pink overalls and hot pink work gloves is like, 

Mischa (Unnamed construction worker): Where'd my helmet go? 

Mischa: And is running towards the exit. 

Mayanna: I'm like, 

Mayanna (Fran): (Grimacing) Ooh. 

Bex: Is Percy gone? 

Mischa: Percy was the first one out of there.

[Laughter].

Mayanna: Percy! 

Mayanna: (as Percy) “Sorry, Sir you can’t go to the worksite!” or whatever

Mischa (Percy): Oh my god what’s that mech doing –Ahh!!

[Laughter].

Mayanna: He’s a muppet in this world of all these other fantasy creatures, but he is a muppet.

[Music begins: melancholy horns].

Lyn: I think actually what I’m going to do is – I think I just want to help the civilians. I'm gonna help the civilians. 

Mischa: Sick, okay.

Lyn: This is gonna be really silly, but I'm going to take my big, my giant monkey wrench, and I'm gonna cast light through it as my action to, like, direct people towards safety. 

Mayanna: I love that. 

Lyn: I'm using it as a pointing thing, like an– 

Bex, Mayanna: Air traffic controller.

Lyn: Air traffic controller, yeah.

[SFX: quiet shifting of falling dirt and rock].

Lyn (JJ): Everyone, head in that direction. Please, stay away from the center, stay away from this, from the landslide! Go over that way!

Mischa: Sick, you're up to d4.

Lyn: Great.

Mischa: Fran, that's you.

Mayanna: Alright, I think I see JJ, and I'm just gonna also just start kind of directing traffic. I don't have a cool light, but I'm just gonna start pointing, and similarly like,

Mayanna (Fran): Move it or lose it, people! We're losing daylight over here! 

Ian: Sick. 

Mischa: Yeah, d6! 

Mayanna: Yay! 

Mischa: Gordon. 

Ian: Same. 

Mayanna: Nice.

Mischa: D8. I love it. Okay, that, that means it's time to evacuate. You know, we're up to a d8. Nice work team. 

Mayanna: Okay. 

Bex: Let’s do it

Mischa: Lyn, how about you roll it this time? 

Lyn: Oh gosh.

Mayanna: D8, D8. 

Lyn: Should I do my  avocado toast? 

Mayanna: You’ve got this– Yes, do the avocado toast. 

Bex, Mayanna, Ian: (Chanting) Avocado toast! Avocado toast!

[Dice rolls].

Lyn: Someone read that for me, I can't see it.

Ian: It looks like a 1. 

Mischa: That’s an 8! 

Ian: That’s an 8

[Cheers].

Lyn: We went on the full breadth of emotion there. It's just really shiny, and we sent it to the center of the table where none of us could see with the glare. 

Mayanna: It’s so hard to see!

[Laughter].

Mischa: Yeah, incredible. With all of you sort of directing traffic and making sure the way is clear, you get the maximum amount of people out this round that you like almost can, that was, that was great. 

Lyn: Incredible.

Mayanna: Oh my god.

Bex: Ten left!

Mayanna: Ten left! 

Mischa: Yeah, truly, there's only ten left. It's like, people who were on the far side of the pile, people who were like, couldn't put down what they were doing because they were in the middle of dangerous operations. You see a lot of people sort of taking off those like, shoulder mounted dig rigs, trying to get out of them, take off the straps and like, put them down and run. So it's really like, just sort of the stragglers at this point. Nice work.

[Music ends].

Ian: The two construction people who were off on the edge of the lot smoking weed like they shouldn't have and then came back and were like, “wow, what happened? Everything's different now.” 

Mischa: We do not advise inebriation on the worksite. This has been an OSHA sponsored podcast.

[Laughter].

Mayanna: Thank you so much for the generous sponsorship by OSHA. [Laughter]. If it weren't for them, we couldn't make this podcast. 

Bex: Nobody send them photos of how we set up this blanket fort.

[Laughter].

[Theme music]. 

Mischa: Hey there, it's Mischa. This is the rest stop. Come take a break beside the path with me, just until we catch our breath. Happy summer! At least to our listeners in the Northern Hemisphere. I hope you're staying cool out there. It's gonna be a scorcher. But of course, the best way to stay cool is to support us at patreon.com/wanderingpathpod. 

Mischa: I just realized as I was editing one of our blooper reels that actually there's some advanced content in there. Stuff that we've decided to cut from the main episodes and save for later in our upcoming talkbacks that you can hear early if you join up with us. That's in addition to ad free episodes, exclusive stat blocks, and more. One more time, that's patreon.com/wanderingpathpod. And thanks as always to our Voyager level patron, JWX, who is the coolest of the cool. 

Mischa: And as we dive into our second combat here on the pod, we also want to give a huge shout out to Mage Hand Press. They're the ones who make the excellent book Valda's Spire of Secrets, an enormous expansion of D&D 5th edition. Bring new adventures to your table and transcend the limits of character creation with innovative classes, subclasses, races, feats, and more. If you're curious about what mechanics we're using for Fran's crafting, Gordon's bombs, or Ibra's warden moves, this is the place to find them. This book has it all: 10 new base classes, over 150 subclasses, including some for the traditional D&D base classes, plus a huge arsenal of firearms and exotic weapons like the gun blade, new feats, new systems, over a hundred brand new spells, and so much more. I can't even cover it all in a short spot here. If you want the goods, you're gonna have to check it out. Head on over to magehandpress.com. And while you're there, tell them we sent you.

Mischa: Okay, that's it for now. Let's get back on the path and back to the show.

[Theme music].

[Soundscape: ambient outdoor air, distant traffic].

[SFX: hollow, metallic roar. Heavy steps. Motor rattling].

Mischa: Amazing, Ibra, we're back to you. 

Mayanna: Yeah! 

Bex: So Ibra sees that, there's just stragglers left. This is amazing. This is excellent. I think Ibra is like, 

Bex (Ibra): I've got this, but I don't. I don't. I-I do. I do! But I'm gonna need-I'm gonna need help. This is-this isn't- this is going only so well. 

Lyn (JJ): (Afar) I believe in you! 

Bex (Ibra): Thanks!

Mayanna (Fran): (Afar) You got this, Ibra!

Bex (Ibra): I believe in you, you guys are doing great! When you're done with the evacuations, I could use a little help! 

Mayanna (Fran): (Afar) You got it! 

Ian (Gordon): (Afar) Of course!

Bex: I'm going to, I'm gonna, I'm gonna target the laser again. 

Mischa: Sweet. 

Bex: That-that thing just needs to die.  

[Music begins: suspenseful, energetic, rhythmic beeps].

Mischa: Yeah come on!

Mayanna: Yeah.

Mischa: You can do it! 

Bex: Okay.

Ian: Get it. (Imitating Palpatine) Do it. 

Mayanna: (Imitating Palpatine) Do it.

[Dice rolls].

Bex: Dirty 20. 

Mayanna: Nice! 

Mischa: Okay, still good damage. And this thing, like, you're carving [SFX: blade slide], slices full of rust into this thing, and as you do, like, when you leave one slash behind, the rust [SFX: magical echo] continues to spread throughout the thing. 

Bex: Yes!

Mischa: So, like, it's sort of spreading across the chassis in different little spots now.

Bex: [Dice rolls]. 9 slashing, 4 necrotic. 

Lyn: Whoa.

Mischa: Okay. You attempt to slash at the base of the laser turret [SFX: metal blades chlashing],  to try to, like, cut this thing off, and, you gouge out a good portion of the mount [SFX: tearing metal]. But as you do, your blade makes contact with the electrical conduits, [SFX: electricity crackles], and you are going to take 2 lightning damage.

Lyn: Woof.

Bex (Ibra): Agh!

Mayanna: Oh, dang. 

[SFX: magical echo. Slow crunching of metal].

Mischa: The rust, as it moves and spreads throughout this thing's chassis, it, like, sort of peels the construction yellow paint away, and, like, it starts, like, sort of flaking off. If anybody was standing underneath it, they might get like a rain of paint flakes onto their heads. The metal, as you take steps across its back, starts sort of like creaking and making slightly unsafe noises. [SFX: metal creaking]. I think what it's going to do is it's going to like buck. It's going to try to buck you off of its back. [SFX: motor whirring]. So I would love for you to, let's do, opposed–

Bex: Does this, is this where Warden’s Grasp is important, because I can't move. And I'm wondering if it locks me. 

Mischa: I’m gonna look it up.

Bex: Like, it says in, in the thing, it says I can't move. So I'm wondering if that means I am, like, locked into place. Like, a statue.

[Music fades out].

Mischa: (Singsong) let’s look up the Warden rules, let’s look up the Warden rules.

Bex: Just cause semantics are annoying. 

Mischa: It's so, so here's what's interesting. The book says you can't move, and the other creature can't willingly move. 

Bex: Exactly. 

Mischa: So I do feel like, if it was willingly–

Bex: I think I’m locked!

Mischa: I think you're locked.

Lyn: Yeah.

Bex: I think I'm locked on its back. 

[Music begins: high energy thrumming synth and percussion].

Mischa: Yeah. So I think it's going to try to buck, and a little bit of the glow from your skin, like, it sort of, like, dims at your head and increases at your feet, and you stay magnetized to its hull. 

Bex: Sick.

Mayanna, Lyn, Ian: (In unison) Wow!

Bex: Question. 

Mischa: Yeah. 

Bex: Is there anything with dexterity that it will have to do for a buck because it's missing a leg?

Mayanna: (Gasps).

Ian: And it's on a hillside. 

Bex: And it's on a hillside. 

Ian: Of rubble. 

Bex: I know that'll also be dangerous for me. Cause if it topples, I topple too. Cause I can't move. 

Mischa: Well, yeah. 

Bex: But, I'm still asking. 

Mischa: Okay, you know what? I like that. I like that tradeoff, where something bad could happen to both of us. 

Bex: Very much so, yes. 

Mischa: Okay, and it still has disadvantage from Hex, right?

Bex: Yes. 

[Dice rolls].

Mischa: Okay, whoa, yeah, okay. it goes to buck and lands on loose terrain, and shifts and falls. [SFX: motor whirring. Tumbling rocks]. Can you make a DEX save for me? 

Bex: Yes. 

Mayanna: Oh my god.

Ian: I can't tell if this is good or bad.

Bex: Natural fuck. 

[Groans].

Ian: Oh no!

[Music shifts: tense, echoing pads].

Bex: The story said natural fuck, so we're going with natural fuck.

Mayanna: The story said this is a scary moment.

Ian: And you did this to yourself. 

Bex: Yeah, this is-this is important.

Mayanna: For the character!

Bex: Ibra is doing everything they can, and it doesn't seem to be-it seems to be working, but just not enough to save them as well. 

Ian: Yeah. 

Mayanna: (Hums).

Mischa: Yeah. this thing, slips and falls prone. [SFX: metal groaning. Heavy thud]. And you were on its back, so it's gonna, it's gonna crush you for some damage. 

Mayanna: Oh my god. 

Mischa: Well, on a natural one, I gotta. I gotta.

Bex: Yeah.

[Dice rolls].

Mischa: Oh, those are high numbers too, I'm so sorry. 14. 

Bex: Oh I'm-I'm-I'm down.

[SFX: metal clanging and thud].

Mayanna:  Okay, you're down? Okay, alright. 

Bex: I'm unconscious, which means all the–which means I'm released from the beast. I'm no longer locked. 

Mischa: Yeah. It is gonna spend its movement getting up from prone and sort of standing in the same position, [SFX: motor whirring. Heavy steps]. And, the glow falls, like, as it's rolling over and, like, you're still magnetized to it a little bit as it moves and then the glow falls, and you fall, like, you just, like, thump back to the ground a little bit.

Lyn: Oof.

Ian: No longer glowing. 

Bex: And the glow-the glow subsides. 

Mischa: Mmhm. It is going to fire that beam at that pile. 

Ian: Fuck.

Mayanna: Oh my god. 

Mischa: This thing, sort of rears back, charges up its laser, and blasts. [SFX: laser beam thuds and crackles]. And the force digs, like, hard and hot, just into the center, just carving like a tunnel into this debris field. 

Mayanna: We got this. We'll get you out of there. 

Mischa: Yeah, so.

Bex: I trust my team. 

Mayanna: Yeah, we got you. 

Mischa: JJ, you are doing a great job leading this evacuation effort. You turn back to check on Ibra, and, you see the excavator mech, stand back up, Ibra no longer on its back, unencumbered. The rust corrosion seems to have, like, encroached a lot of its chassis, but it seems like it’s stopped now.

Lyn: Mhmm.

Mischa: And you, all of a sudden, feel something in the back of your mind, like a switch turns off. [SFX: snap, echoes]. And you can't hear Ibra's telepathic voice anymore oming from the magic imbued tooth that they gave you last episode. All of a sudden that, voice just instantly goes silent. What do you do? 

Lyn (JJ): Ibra? Ibra! Ibra-Ibra's down! 

Lyn: And I, run as far as I can get, trying to scramble over the difficult terrain. [SFX: rapid footsteps across rubble]. I doubt I can actually make it directly to Ibra with my movement speed. 

Mischa: It's gonna be tough, especially with all the debris sort of blasting in all directions. 

Lyn: Yeah, so I think that, as I'm, like, yelling over the sound of the laser, the most I can do is a healing word, but yeah, as my Astra watch is like, slow blinking to recharge–this is no longer a thumbs up, this is a full clenched fist as I grab onto it and literally try and like, throw my own voice to Ibra to try and, like, willfully force my own way past the limitations of the Astra that I have.

Mischa: Yeah, you take hold of this thing and, like, push your will through it. [SFX: twinkling chimes]. It's a dense conduit, and you feel some resistance. You know, the highway's closed and you're gonna force it open. 

Mayanna: (Whispering) Yes! 

Mischa: I need– I would like you to roll a d20. Don't add anything. 

Lyn: Okay. 

Ian: Jesus. 

Bex: Stressful. 

Ian: Cross your fingers.

Lyn: I'm using the die that Bex gave me for this.

Ian: Here we go.

Bex: Is scawwy.

Lyn: Please roll well. [Dice rolls]. That's only a 9. 

Ianand Mayanna: (Simultaneously, whispering) Fuck.

Mischa: You grab hold of this and force your will through it and throw your voice. What does your healing word look like? 

Lyn: My healing word, I think I'm trying to say like, 

Lyn (JJ): We're not done yet. You're not done yet. 

[Music shifts: slow, melancholic strings and reverberating chimes]

Lyn: And what it looks like on a person when it takes hold is a flash of wings, like, astrally project behind them really quickly, as, like, healing magic takes hold of their body.

Mischa: Cool. Yeah, you strain your voice to throw it that far, you grip your bracer tight, and your mantra repeats, “You're not done yet, you're not done yet.” Ibra, you pop back up, and as soon as you sort of see their head pop up over the debris field you feel something underneath your hand: a crack [SFX: glass shattering].

Mayanna: Oh my god.

Mischa: And you take your hand away from the bracer, and your crystal of Astra is broken and shattered inside of your bracer.

Mayanna: I think I’m close enough to you to see that, and I’m very disturbed.

Lyn: Mmhm. I’m like gritted teeth.  And then I keep moving forward, grabbing my mace to get ready to charge at the thing. 

Mayanna: Yeah, I've never seen somebody, like, abuse Astra that way. So I think I'm, I'm like, whoa. 

Bex: How many hit points? 

Lyn: Oh, right, I gotta roll for that, huh? [Laughter]. 6 points of HP. 

Bex: Thank you. 

Mayanna: Thank god. 

Mischa: Yeah, JJ you have managed to eek one last spell out of your Astral crystal, but it's broken and you're gonna have to get a new one. 

Lyn: (Singsong) And I'm a broke college student.

Mayanna: I know. Well, let's see if we can fix it. 

Bex: Well considering you used it to save my life I'm pretty sure Ibra's gonna want to cover it for you 

Mischa: Yeah, yeah, that's fair. 

Lyn: We'll talk about it later. 

[Laughter].

[Music shifts to ominous piano].

Mischa: JJ and Ibra are rushing headfirst into a combat with a thoroughly rusted construction mech. Fran, you're down on the ground and it's looking a little messy back there. What are you doing? 

Mayanna: How–about how far am I from the mech? 

Mischa: It's difficult terrain, so you'd probably have to dash or make a really good athletics check. 

Mayanna: Could I fire from here? 

Mischa: Oh, with your sighted pistol? Absolutely. 

Mayanna: Yeah, mhmm, I'm gonna–can I try to aim for the laser? 

Mischa: Why don't we do the same deal that we've been giving Ibra, which is if you hit five above AC, you can call your shot.

Mayanna: Okay, great. Okay, deal. 

Ian: It's a good deal. 

[Dice rolls].

Mayanna: Oof. I'm not rolling well today. That's a 5. That's a miss. Yeah. 

Mischa: Yeah, you take aim at this thing. But at this range, your small caliber gun sort of just, like, [SFX: crunch of glass], thunks into the glass of the cockpit and doesn't make it much further. 

Mayanna: I think for my bonus action, I want to, I recall that there was someone or something at the top of the slide that kind of channeled it, and I want to try and see if I can see if they're still there.

Mischa: Yeah, absolutely. Roll perception. 

[Dice rolls].

Mayanna: Okay, great, that's nice. Let's see here. That's a 16. 

Mischa: Yeah, 16, they're gone. 

Mayanna: Oh, fuck. 

Ian: (Laughs).

Mayanna: Okay, so I'm gonna just keep waving people down, but I didn't, it's not gonna help with the, with however many people, but I'm just, that's what I'm gonna keep doing now. (Giggles).

Mischa: Okay, sounds good. Gordon. 

[Music shifts: triumphant, vibrant strings].

Ian: I, I look to Ibra and JJ. I pull a muffin out of my satchel, my bandolier. 

Mischa: Yep. 

Ian: My muff-dolier. 

Lyn: No.

Bex: No! 

Lyn: No, not that one.

Ian: That one's bad. I take that one back. I take a white vial, shake it up, inject it into the muffin, [SFX: click, hiss of air]. It starts to glow white. [SFX: echoing hum]. And I look at Ibra running towards the mech, and I go, 

Ian (Gordon): This is your time, Gordon.

Ian: And I aim back to throw a painkiller bomb directly at Ibra. 

Mayanna: Hell yeah. 

Mischa: Sweet. 

Ian: With Bless, right? 

Mischa: Yeah, yep.

Lyn: It's technically an attack roll, yes. 

[Dice rolls].

Ian: Well, that was a 5. 

[Music ends, return to soundscape].

Bex: I'm a willing creature. Can I give him an advantage by being a willing creature? 

Mischa: Uh… No. [Laughter]. You can be as willing as you want, but it's about Gordon's throw.

Ian: So I lean back, I go, 

Ian (Gordon): This is your time, Gordon. 

Ian: And right as I like, go to like,

Ian (Gordon): (Grunt).

Ian: The rock I'm on falls. [SFX: shifting of falling rocks].

[Laughter].

Mischa: Sorry.

Ian: You fucking dice, you failed me. You fucking failed me. 

Mischa: Hey, hey. Maybe it just needs a moment to rest, maybe it's a little burnt out. Maybe it's just feeling it, just give it a moment to rest. I'm sure it'll come back for you.

Ian: I'm gonna put it in the box and hope that it thinks about what it's done. 

[Laughter].

Bex: It needs a spa day. 

Mayanna: Yeah

Mischa: Just needs a, just needs a mental health day, you know? (Deep breath). Anyway, you miss. [Laughter]. Ibra, it's your turn. 

[Music begins: melancholic, reverberating pads].

Mischa: You were briefly crushed and unconscious and have now been brought back from the brink.

Mayanna: Dang.

Bex (Ibra): (Frustrated growl).

Mischa: You sit up in a pile of debris and concrete rubble. What do you do? 

Bex (Ibra): I'm not done yet. I'm not done yet. I'm not done yet. 

Bex: And it just sort of keeps repeating, internally and externally. 

Mischa: Yeah, that healing word that JJ sent your way sort of resonates on the air and rattles magically in the back of your mind. And just sort of drives you forward.

Bex: I don’t know what to do, cause I'm hurt, and it hurts, and I want to–I'm not done yet, but I'm hurt. 

Mischa: Are you hurt or are you injured, buddy? 

Bex: Both. 

Mischa: Yeah. 

Bex: I'm hurt and injured. 

Mayanna: I feel for Ibra so much in this moment. 

Ian: What's your HP right now? 

Bex: 6. 

Mayanna: Yeah. 

Bex: But there's no other option. I don't really have anything else I can do except be in melee combat. That's that's the only thing that Ibra can really provide right now, and it's rattling them, because they want another option all of a sudden. They want to be able to keep fighting without having to go get hit again. 

Mayanna: Right. 

Mischa: Yeah, when all you have is a naginata, everything looks, uh, sliceable?

[Laughter].

Bex: and I think for the first time, like, Ibra's like, “This, my physical abilities are not gonna be enough for this, I'm g– this is– if this is all I've got, I'm gonna get crushed again.” And that's starting to scare them, but not to the extent that they're gonna not rush into battle. They're just gonna swap out the naginata for the shield and pop spear. [SFX: metal clang].  How far away are we now? 

Mischa: Like, five-ten feet away. Basically, this thing crushed you and then flipped back over and, is has refocused on digging deep into the debris pile.

Bex: So I'm five-ten feet away. So getting up on– back on its back is not really feasible with my movement. 

Mischa: You could roll an athletics check and maybe do it. There's a chance not, but you could try. 

Mayanna: Do it. 

[Dice rolls].

Bex: 15. 

Mischa: I think you can make it up onto the back this turn. 

Bex: Okay, I'm gonna get up onto the back, and I'm going to bonus action Warden's Mark. [SFX: rattling hum].

Mischa: Mhmm.

Bex: Hex magic is down.

Mischa: Mmhm.

Bex: Which sucks, and we're gonna go for the spear. 

Mischa: Okay. 

[Dice rolls].

Bex: It's not gonna hit. 

Mischa: Yeah, Ibra feeling the limitations of their prowess a little bit here.

Bex: Yeah, this is not fun anymore for Ibra. This is like– 

Lyn: Was it fun at all? 

Bex: No, it wasn't fun, but like that, the rush of feeling like, “okay, I can handle this. I've, I have a skill that can beat something that is in front of me.” And that skill isn't beating that thing that's in front of me. 

Mayanna: Right. 

Bex: Or at least not enough.

Mischa: Yeah. Yeah, this thing takes a tiny bullet to the windscreen, and you know, you're climbing up on its back, but all of its moves are still active. I think as you climb up, it's probably gonna try to take a swipe at you with its leg, [SFX: whirring motors], but like, it doesn't bend that way, so it's gonna do it with disadvantage. [Dice rolls]. Just completely missed. Like, you anime run, you throw your hands back behind you and like, anime run up the side of this thing's chassis and just like, dodge easily at this clumsy swipe. 

Mischa: This thing, again, seems like it doesn't have a great, grip on the capabilities of its own form. You know, it's trying to move in ways that, like, this excavator was not built to move in. It cannot take a swipe and charge its laser in the same turn, so I think instead what it's going to do is it's going to take its foreleg, which, again, are made for structural and moving, and are not the part of the mech that it does this normally in normal construction time, but it's going to take its foreleg and just paw at the debris pile and dig into the hole it's made. [SFX: repeated, quick heavy thuds moving rubble].

Ian: Man, it is looking for something. 

[Dice rolls].

Mayanna: Yeah. 

[Music fades out].

Mayanna: The thing that's, that's bringing it to life, like, clearly does not, it's not native to this body. Like, it, it doesn't know how. It's doing its best, but it's not like– Yeah, it's a being that's like, like wearing clothes that aren't it-it– doesn't belong to it. It's desperate.

Mischa: JJ, that's you. 

[Music begins: reflective, wistful rock]. 

Lyn: Am I close to it yet? 

Mischa: You rushed forward in a battle pose.

Lyn: Last turn, yeah

Mischa: Yeah, you can get up there. 

Lyn: Cool. Yeah. I take out my wrench that seems appropriate for trying to dismantle a machine. And I'm just, I yell out to Ibra, it's like, 

Lyn (JJ): Don't tell me you're giving up! We got work to do!

Mayanna: Yes.

Lyn: And I, just try and smash, essentially like go for the ankle. [Dice rolls]. 18 plus 3. 

[Claps]. 

Mischa: Yeah. 

Lyn: I'm trying to like, yeah, take out its joints. 21?

Mischa: Yeah–

Bex: That’s a call-your-shot, isn’t it?

Mischa: I mean, yeah, 18 plus 3, you can call that. 

Mayanna: (Gasps).

Mischa: You-you sort of arrive on the scene, scan it real quick. Run right up to the other rusted leg that Ibra left behind on the ground. And, just as hard as you can, like baseball swing [SFX: crunching metal], just smash the joint out from underneath it. The gears crumble into red orange dust.

Lyn: I should do–roll damage. 

Mischa: You should roll some damage, and then I'll tell you the extra stuff you get for having called you shot.

Mayanna: Ooh!

[Dice rolls].

Lyn: That's only 3 points of damage. 

Mayanna: Hey, that's okay. Every little bit helps. 

Mischa: You run up and baseball swing and take this thing's knees out from underneath it. Now missing two adjacent legs, this thing creaks and groans [SFX: metal groaning], as the rest of its four legs can no longer sustain its weight, especially because it was using one of them to dig, which it was not made to do. This thing slips and falls, and you hear a large metallic crunch, [SFX: heavy thud], as a large piece of debris pierces through its underbelly right in the middle of the scorch mark that Gordon's bomb left behind. It pierces through the driving engine at the core of this thing, and a discharge of energy. [SFX: electricity sparks and zaps]. Electric sparks and crackles. You are going to take 3 lightning damage in that last burst. Also, actually, you're on its back, right? 

Bex: Yeah. 

Mischa: Yeah, you're also gonna take 3 lightning damage.

Bex: Perfect, I'm still up. 

Mischa: Great.

Ian: “I’m still up!”

Mischa: You know, you take that one last burst, and it throws you back. Ibra, I think, it sort of like compels you to jump off the thing and tuck into a rolling landing. [SFX: whoosh, thud against the ground]. The energy leaves it. The light leaves it. Leaves its quote unquote eyes it crumples and falls pieces start falling off of it that have been rusted through now that there's not arcane forces holding it together a little bit. [SFX: metal groans and creaks. Thuds falling against rubble]. And this thing collapses and falls to the ground and turns into construction equipment once again.

Mayanna: Wow.

Lyn: Whoa.

[Music ends, return to soundscape].

Lyn (JJ): Are you are you okay? 

Bex (Ibra): Yeah.

Lyn (JJ): I– I don't– I can't– I can't heal you anymore. 

Bex (Ibra): Are you okay? 

Lyn (JJ): Um… Yes. 

Bex (Ibra): You hesitated. 

Lyn (JJ): There's a lot of adrenaline in my body.

Lyn: I'm like shaking holding my mace. I'm like,

Lyn (JJ): I think I also only knocked off one bolt, but that was the last thing holding it together. 

Bex (Ibra): You didn't knock off one bolt, you knocked off the whole excavator.

Lyn (JJ): I think–okay, you did most of it. You did 90 percent of that. 

Mischa: There are still workers in the construction site who haven't evacuated yet. From below, down the hill, you hear, they start applauding. [SFX: cheers and applause]. They, like, start, they start kind of, like, clapping and cheering for you. Yeah, you have a little bit of an audience.

Lyn (JJ): Oh, no.

Mayanna (Fran): Whoa.

Mischa: (Laughs). “Oh no”? 

Bex (Ibra): Totally thought that they would be mad at me for breaking their equipment. 

Mayanna: I think, I'm at the bottom of the thing, right? So I'm gonna, like, kind of, I'm gonna climb my way, make my way, and I'll, and I'm like, 

Mayanna (Fran): JJ, what did you do to your Astra? 

Lyn (JJ): Oh. 

Lyn: And I look down.

Mayanna: And I kinda like, grab your wrist.

Lyn: Yeah. I-I'm looking down at it. I'm like, 

Lyn (JJ): Um… Well I was doing some reading in the library and you know, Astra is just a conduit for magic. And magic is controlled with intention. And I saw Ibra go down, and I didn't have any juice left. So I… made… juice. 

Bex (Ibra): What? Wait, hold– 

Mayanna (Fran): This is insane. 

Mayanna: I'm gonna, like, I'm gonna start writing things down and I'm just gonna start, like, ushering the rest of the construction workers.

Lyn (JJ): Oh, this is gonna be so expensive to replace. 

Bex (Ibra): Wait, what happened? 

Lyn (JJ): Oh, no, we should help everyone get out. It's still not safe here. 

Mayanna (Fran)): (overlapping) Yeah, we’re gonna get the rest of these construction workers out.

Lyn (JJ): This thing can crumble at any second. Where's–where's Gordon? Gordon!

Mayanna (Fran): Gordon! 

Ian: I think I'm at the–where it was digging. 

Mayanna: Yeah!

Ian: I think I like walked up and I'm peeking around in the-in the big ass pit.

Mayanna: Should we, I want to help investigate that as well, actually. 

Mischa: Yeah, Fran runs up to help you. 

Mayanna: Yeah, I'm going to come join at your side, Gordon. Because I pick up on what you're throwing down. 

Ian: Yeah, so do you want me to roll investigation? 

Mischa: Yeah, please roll me some investigation. 

[Music begins: suspenseful, pensive piano and strings]

Mayanna: Could I help him and he gets advantage?

Mischa: Sure. 

Mayanna: All right, cool. 

[Dice rolls].

Ian: Okay, so 16. 

Mayanna: Nice. 

Mischa: 16, yeah. You see this large bored hole dug into the center of this debris field. It's like 15 foot diameter. A big hole on the side of this debris field.

Ian: And how far in do we go?

Mischa: like 30 feet in. It's like, after a couple of blasts from that laser, the sand has fused a little bit. The further down it goes, it looks almost like a dark glass tunnel.

Mayanna: Whoa.

Mischa: It almost makes it look like the entrance, to the large Astra mine, the center of the city, like, in miniature. You get distinct flashbacks, you know, the funnel shape. It's like dark glass, you know, because it was like dirty, sooty, you know, construction sand, it, you know. Occasionally through the glass you can see the walls of one of those crates that you guys found. It was pretty fortunate that giant laser didn't hit any, either of them. 

Mayanna: (Relieved) Whew.

Ian: Yeah. We'd all be dead. 

Mayanna: Terrifying. 

Mischa: I mean, it would have, definitely caused more landslides than did happen. And there were already a lot, and I feel like you guys were struggling with those. 

All: Yep. 

Mischa: So yeah, thank goodness. 

Ian: What led you to believe that? The fact that two of us were down? 

[Laughter].

Mischa: Yeah, that was it. And at the center of that dark funnel, you see a tiny pinprick of light. You guys can like slide down on into there. 

Mayanna: I'll slide in, yeah. 

Ian: I slide on my apron. 

Mischa: Oh yeah!

Ian: I pull my apron out and I use it like an apron sled. 

Mayanna: Ooh, yeah! Okay. 

Mischa: Friends behind you. 

Mayanna: Yeah. Toboggan vibes.

Mischa: Just like Kiki on the back of the bike. 

Mayanna: Yeah. Let's go! Yeah! 

Mischa: At the bottom, there's like, You know, still compacted sand rock, dirt, concrete melange at the bottom, but you can dig into it a little bit and brush things aside. And at the bottom of this hole in under this giant debris pile, you uncover a crystal of Astra. [SFX: ringing chime].

Ian: Investigation?

Mayanna: Yeah. Investigation immediately. Or–

Ian, Lyn: Or arcana? 

Mayanna: Or arcana.

Mischa: Well, yeah, well–

Bex: Why don’t you do one you do the other?

Mayanna: Well, I have proficiency in investigation. 

Mischa: We can roll things all day. My question is, like, you pick it up? 

Mayanna: Yeah, definitely. I. Yeah. 

Ian: She picks it up. 

Mayanna: I pick it up. 

[Laughter].

Mischa: Fran, you pick it up. 

Mayanna: Mhmm.

Mischa: Go ahead and roll Investigation. 

Mayanna: Okay, sounds good. Investigation, come on. [Dice rolls]. Ugh, 10. 

[Music shifts: contemplative guitar and suspenseful thrums].

Mischa: 10’s not nothing.

Mayanna: Okay.

Mischa:  it's a rough crystal. It's not processed. It's, like, still got facets on the crystal. You have seen raw Astra before maybe. 

Mayanna: Yeah.

Mischa: Probably, like, down near the mine, you maybe have seen, like, a mine cart or something. 

Mayanna: Yeah.

Mischa: This looks just, like, fresh from the mines.

Mayanna: Wow! Okay.

Mischa: Has not gone through processing it all, that makes it into those little spheres of crystal that you guys use. Yeah. Additionally, this one, at its center, has a little… spark. 

Mayanna: Okay! Okay. 

Mischa: That is glowing with like an orange yellow ember. It looks, like, deep in the center of this crystal, and it reflects off of the facets with its own internal light.

Mayanna: Oh my god. 

Ian: I, like, eye it in her hand. 

Mayanna: Yeah.

Ian: And I go

Ian (Gordon): Wow!

Mayanna: Do I feel, like, warm? 

Mischa: Yeah, it's warm. 

Mayanna: Interesting.

Mischa: With a 10, I think all I can give you is that, yeah, it's, like, a little warm.

Mayanna: Okay.

Mischa: It feels like holding, like, a mug of tea. 

Mayanna: Wow. Okay, I'm definitely gonna hold on to this. I think I'm gonna put it in my craftsman's tools, and I'm definitely gonna, like, try and investigate further later.

Mischa: Yeah. 

Mayanna: But I also think, like, if this is what they were looking for, clearly something's very important about this. So we have to make sure that this doesn't get taken. 

Ian: Yeah, I think I turn to you.

[Music ends, return to soundscape].

Ian (Gordon): I've never seen anything like that have you? 

Mayanna (Fran): I’ve never seen anything like this before. I have no idea what's going on with it. It feels warm. You wanna touch? 

Ian (Gordon): No. 

Mayanna (Fran): Okay. Let me know if you change your mind later. 

[Laughter].

Ian (Gordon): Okay, give it to me.

Mayanna (Fran): Here you go. 

Ian (Gordon): Oh yeah, it's really warm. 

Mayanna (Fran): It's warm, it's weird. 

Ian (Gordon): It's like a muffin. 

Mayanna (Fran): Yeah, it's like coffee. Or you know what, a muffin is probably more apt. 

Ian: And again, how big is it? It's like–

Mischa: Yeah, it's like softball sized.

Ian: Softball sized.

Bex: Whoa!

Mischa: You know, not, not perfectly round.

Ian: But that's a big piece of Astra. 

Mayanna: It's a chonk. 

Mischa: It's like a chonk, yeah. 

[Music begins: contemplative, swelling synths]

Mayanna: I, yeah, I, I feel very protective of this. I feel like if this was the thing that we almost died, like, the, the, what it was looking for, like, it's clearly very important, whatever this is. 

Ian: Yeah, does it change, like, the, you know, not the temperature, temperature, but does it change, like, the vibe in the air at all? Is there anything, sort of, do you know what I mean? 

Mischa: Roll perception about it, Gordon. 

Mayanna: Ooh.

[Dice rolls].

Ian: Yeah. Well, it's an 18, plus whatever the fuck. [Laughter]. 22. 

Mayanna: Nice. 

Mischa: Nice. 

Bex: Damn. 

Mischa: Yeah. It's not warming up the air. It's not changing anything you can see or touch. 

Ian: Or feel. 

Mischa: Or feel. Well, see, that's interesting. Because feel is used to describe so many things in the English language, and some of them are concrete, and some of them are abstract.

Ian: Sure. 

Mischa: When you touch it, it's slightly warm. Maybe you feel it a little less because you have baker's fingers, you know, like you've touched so many hot pans that you're like, “oh, is it warm? I couldn't really tell.” But it's… compelling. 

Ian: Yeah.

Mischa: You can feel, like, drawn to this thing.

Ian: Yeah.

Mischa: In a weird way, it feels like, I don't know, it feels like home.

Ian: Oh.

Mischa: Something draws you towards it. 

Ian: Warm and comforting. 

Mischa: Yeah. 

Mayanna (Fran): Can I–do you have any big round loaves of bread on you?

[Music ends].

Ian (Gordon): Oh, 100%

Mayanna (Fran): Amazing.  

Ian: I immediately turn around my bandolier. I pull out a-a yesterday baked sourdough. 

Mayanna: Great. And I'm going to take my dagger and I'm going to cut a hole in the bottom, and I'm going to put that inside it. A reverse bread bowl situation.

Ian: Yeah.

Mischa: So that as we travel, it's just like my lunch. 

Bex: It's like a rock hide-a-key, but it's hide-an-astra. 

Mayanna: Yeah. 

Ian: Hide-a-bread. 

Mayanna: Yeah

Mischa: Okay. Yeah. Cool. 

Mayanna: Yeah. We like, this feels so dangerous. I'm very excited, but I also think if anybody sees us with this, it's going to be a problem. So I'm going to take this loaf of bread bowl that I made, and I'm going to put it in my backpack. [SFX: ruffling fabric, zipper zips].

Ian: Actually, the quick pitch for you. I wonder if I call to Ibra and JJ to come into the tunnel to see it. Maybe not. 

Mayanna (Fran): Oh yeah. Also, how are we going to get out of this hole? 

Ian (Gordon): Right. 

Mayanna (Fran): It's 30 feet down. 

Ian (Gordon): Oh yeah. How– it's pretty– 

Mayanna (Fran): –steep. It's glass. If they come down here, it's going to be harder. I wonder if they–

Lyn (JJ): (Afar) We can grab some rope to pull you up?

Mayanna (Fran): Yeah, could you grab us some rope!

Mayanna (Fran): (To Gordon) And we can, we can like, show this to them at Ibra's house or something when it's safe. 

Ian (Gordon): Yeah, totally totally.

Mayanna (Fran): Yeah can you, can you grab some rope and help us get out of the hole? 

Lyn (JJ): Okay. 

Lyn: I'm also texting Ravona. Inspector Ravona. 

Mischa: Yeah? 

Lyn: Yeah. 

Mischa: Okay. What do you text her? 

Lyn (JJ): (Staticky filter, denoting a text) At the bridge collapse site. Defeated another aberration.

Lyn (JJ): (Normal) Did y'all find anything down there?

Mayanna (Fran): We'll talk about it later! 

Lyn (JJ): I think that's a yes. 

Lyn (JJ): (Staticky filter) Found something. 

Ian: Ugh.

Mayanna: Fuck, I know, I know. 

Lyn (JJ): (Staticky filter) This is big. 

Bex (Ibra): Don't forget to tell her that more of the bridge collapsed. 

Lyn (JJ): (Staticky filter) Oh, also more of the bridge is gone. 

[Laughter].

Bex (Ibra): Sorry. 

Lyn (JJ): (Staticky filter) Sorry.

Mayanna: Worst text I've ever received. 

Ian (Gordon): Guys, where's the rope? 

Mayanna (Fran): Yeah, can you help us get out of here, please? 

Ian (Gordon): Help us out of the tunnel!

Mayanna (Fran): It's dark and cold down here. 

Bex (Ibra): I’m coming, you're fine. 

Ian: “You’re fine”

Lyn: We let down the rope. 

Mayanna: Yeah, I'm gonna climb up.

Mayanna (Fran) and Ian (Gordon): (Grunting).

[SFX: quiet shifting of falling dirt and sand].

Lyn (JJ): Pull, pull. Come on, let’s–

Bex (Ibra): I'm backing up. I'm the anchor. I'm pulling. I’m pulling

Bex: I'm like, backing down. Wrapped around my waist. 

Mayanna (Fran) and Ian (Gordon): (Heavy breathing).

Lyn: I'm gonna lie down on the ground for a bit. 

Mayanna: Yeah.

[Music begins: pensive piano and resonating choral pads].

Mischa: Yeah, you guys sort of make your way out of the hole, you guys help each other to just plunk down next to the rim of things. The blood rushing in your ears sort of dims the noise of city life returning now that, like, the adrenaline leaves your bodies. You just sort of thousand yards stare down a packed industrial alleyway, watching as the crowds gather and those Construction crew members sort of disperse, tales of your deeds, you know, sort of tell everybody like, 

Mischa (unnamed construction worker): Oh, did you see that? They brought that thing down like it wasn't nothing! I, I never would have thought to slash a mech with a sword! That was crazy! Did you guys see that? 

Mischa: And the four of you just sort of sit in a line, a thousand-yard stare, surveying this whole thing. 

Mayanna: Trauma blanket. 

Ian: It's just I'm chewing on a muffin going, 

Ian (Gordon): What do you think all those people are talking about? (Munches).

Mischa: Gordon, you'll never believe this. It's how rad you are. 

Ian: Sick.

[Laughter].

Mischa: As you guys just sort of like sit there and mentally recover, JJ, you get a text from Ravona that just says, 

Mischa (Ravona): (Staticky filter) On my way.

Lyn (JJ): Inspector's on her way.

[Music ends].

Mayanna (Fran): (Sighs). Okay, before she gets here. We did find something down there. 

[Music begins: suspenseful, rhythmic synths].

Lyn (JJ): I knew it. 

Mayanna (Fran): I don't know if we should share it. 

Lyn (JJ): Oh.

Mayanna (Fran): Yeah. 

Lyn (JJ): Hmm. 

Mayanna (Fran): It seems. Almost too important. If that makes any sense.

Ian (Gordon): Show it to ‘em. 

Mayanna (Fran): Should we show it to ‘em? 

Ian (Gordon): Show it to ‘em. 

Mayanna (Fran): Okay. All right. 

Mayanna: I, I pull out a big loaf of bread. 

Lyn (JJ): Oh?

Bex (Ibra): Nice job, Gordon. 

Mayanna: And then I turn it upside down and I take the bottom out and I show them. 

Bex (Ibra): Oh.

Mischa: The bread bowl glows from within, like a hearth fire. 

Lyn: Can I do an arcana vibe check on that? 

Mischa: Yeah.

Lyn: I don't have a conduit for my other magic, so I can't even ritual cast Detect Magic, right?

Mischa: Nope, you currently are in a state where you cannot cast spells.

Lyn: Cool. [Dice rolls]. Dirty 20. 

Mayanna: Nice! 

Mischa: Nice! 

Lyn: So, yeah. JJ is looking at it and, like, senses the warmth and the comfort, and is trying their best without their goggles to try to assess the raw nature of it? Of like, is this a school of magic that is contained within it, or is this complete raw magic?

Mischa: Yeah, it's complete raw magic. 

Lyn: Mhmm.

Mayanna: Wow. 

Mischa: That's, I think the sense you get with the Dirty 20 is that, this might be the rawest magic you've ever seen.

Lyn: And I've been by the mines. 

Mischa: You've been to, you've been to the mines. You've, you know what raw Astra looks like when it's coming outta the ground. Some of that like glows with bioluminescence or what gets activated by nearby spells that people are casting. This thing is glowing with an internal spark, that with a dirty 20 arcana check, it feels, like you can tell, like, this is its own. And I don't think you've ever seen anything like that before. I think the one other thing you do recognize, on that 20, you stare down at this crystal and that orange yellow spark in the back of, and something triggers in the back of your mind, something about, like, the color, temperature, the color pattern, oh yeah. Ravona's pickaxe glowed that same orange when she struck the spot under Boggins’, or like in Boggins’s floor.

Mayanna (Fran): Ooh, here's what I'd recommend. I think we give Ravona the detonation device and tell her that's what we found. 

Lyn (JJ): I feel like she could help us with this, though. 

Mayanna (Fran): Okay, here's what I'm thinking. We have people who don't remember what they do and do not tell us. This thing was going to kill us to find this thing. And I don't know about you guys, I feel like I don't really trust the people who gave us this assignment yet. It seems pretty vague. They are not really clear about what's going on. And if this thing is as important as everybody seems to be feeling like it is, I think it's best kept with us. 

Bex (Ibra): And if we're supposed to, like, be fighting these things, we should know more. They should– 

Mayanna (Fran): Yes! 

Bex (Ibra): I don't-I don't know, Fran. I'm with you. 

Mayanna: Yeah.

Lyn (JJ): Okay.

Mayanna (Fran): It seems too important. Especially because Ravona won't even tell us what her pickaxe thing does. And it seems related. I don't know. 

Lyn (JJ): Yeah. Yeah. That– that makes sense. 

Mayanna (Fran): I don't, like, I, I, it's your bosses, and it's your job, but like– 

Lyn (JJ): Well, it's our job, now.

Mayanna (Fran): It's our job. Right.

Lyn (JJ): But I– 

Bex (Ibra): We’re a team now. 

Mayanna (Fran): Yeah. 

Lyn (JJ): It's not that we never–I-I think, yeah, keeping it close to the chest for a bit. 

Mayanna (Fran): For now. Like, whatever you guys are comfortable with, but I just, if they don't tell us what it is we're doing here. I don't trust that. I don't know. This feels too important. 

Lyn (JJ): Yeah.

Bex (Ibra): Yeah. I think that we have a lot to talk about after whatever comes next. But I think that for now, we just have to ask our boss for more information.

Lyn (JJ):  I think we need more information in general. We didn't really have a briefing. 

Mayanna (Fran): And that's weird, right? 

Bex (Ibra): It feels important. How can we be sure what we're doing is actually good?

Lyn (JJ): I think now's the time. 

[Music ends].

[SFX: motor hums closer].

Mischa: And you, on the horizon, spot Ravona's signature, hover car, her vehicle, sort of drift in and park at the front of the construction site. And the four of you walk down the debris pile to meet her. And Fran, you take that boule of bread, and you put it right behind your back. 

Mayanna: Yeah, yeah, I put it in my backpack.

Mischa: Yeah.

Mayanna: You have the detonation device that we found, right? The one that got used up? 

Ian: I was gonna say we pick it up on the way down. 

Lyn: We pick it back up. 

Mayanna: Great. 

Mischa: And Ravona walks up and says, 

Mischa (Ravona): Hello, I–team? G-gang? 

Mayanna (Fran): Sure. 

Mischa (Ravona): Team? 

Bex (Ibra): Yep. Team. 

Mischa (Ravona): Situation report. 

Lyn (JJ): We arrived on the scene at approximately,

Lyn: Insert hour here.

[Laughter].

Lyn (JJ): We found some explosive material that don't seem to be from the construction site itself, but they were buried in the rubble. While doing additional investigation, we came across these devices. And then while investigating, something triggered the excavator. It was operating as if alive, and it was rampaging. 

Mayanna (Fran): If it wasn't for Ibra, we'd all be dead. 

Lyn (JJ): Yeah.

Bex (Ibra): If it wasn't for JJ, it'd still be going. 

Lyn (JJ): I just did what I had to to help everyone.

Bex (Ibra): So did I, we all did.

Lyn (JJ): We evacuated most of the scene. As far as I'm aware, no civilian casualties. In the altercation, the excavator did do more damage to the bridges, so this site is even more unstable than it was before. 

Mischa (Ravona): Thank you very much, we–I mean, the site was already closed, we'll keep the–I mean, if no one was injured, it looks like.

Mischa: She looks over to the rusted like, remains. Of the excavator. 

Bex (Ibra): Sorry.

Mayanna (Fran): Gordon, you said you saw someone or you, did you see something before the mech came alive? 

Ian (Gordon): Yeah, I definitely did. 

Ian: Will you remind us what the person looked like? That I saw? Because you mentioned a little bit. 

Mischa: It was, it was from very far away you saw a silhouette of a person that's really, it's just that you saw a person.

Ian: But were they in like a robe or like any sort of–?

Mischa: Too far away.

Ian: Nothing. Just a, just a silhouette. 

Bex: Silhouette of a figure and detonating, something like that. 

Lyn: And that clearly triggered, something

Ian: Then it came down like a wave over us. 

Mayanna (Fran): So someone knew, or had a sense, that we were coming. And did not want us here.

Lyn (JJ): And I think had a contingency plan for anyone who–

Mayanna (Fran): Investigated.

Ian (Gordon): Well, and it seems like wanted to get us away, so they could get to– 

Mischa (Ravona): (Sigh). Okay, this is now becoming a different beast. 

Bex (Ibra): Okay, can we have a little bit of information on what this beast is? 

Lyn (JJ): How long has this been going on? What are we even doing? 

Mischa (Ravona): I have been tracking down anomalous events, described secondhand by people who can't remember them for a few months now. It was small incidents. It was people's houses broken into, minor destruction of property. Now all of a sudden, an entire construction mech was taken over, overtaken by–

Mayanna (Fran): Magic?

Mischa (Ravona): –something. And not just something, but something that a person planned. 

Mayanna (Fran): Yes, 

Lyn (JJ): that's what it seems to be. 

Mischa (Ravona): That's fantastic news. That's great information for me. That's also horrible. I need to know. Did you find anything? 

Bex (Ibra): The detonation device. It wasn't all the way detonated. 

Mischa: JJ. 

Lyn (JJ): Mhmm. 

Mischa: Who was sort of the, the last on board with this plan? 

Lyn: Mhmm. 

Mischa: I would like you to roll perception about it. Er, persuasion about it, please. 

Lyn: Persuasion?

Mayanna: Roll persuasion.

Ian: Persuasion or deception?

Mayanna: Ooh. 

Mischa: Oh, see, you haven't–

Bex: It's true. 

Lyn: It’s not a lie.

Mischa: You haven’t outright lied. 

Mayanna: Yeah. 

[Dice rolls].

Mischa: I do think you need to persuade her that this is the only thing you found. 

Lyn: 7. 

Ian: Oh my god. 

Mischa: She looks at you, JJ, and says.

Mischa (Ravona): That was all? 

Lyn: I look to the party members. 

Mayanna: I don't know, man. I don't know. I don't know. I think it's, I. You know, above the table or whatever. I just, I think, I don't know. I think it's dangerous for her to have this. 

Lyn: Yeah. 

Mayanna: I think it's safer with us. 

Lyn (JJ): It's all that we could identify. 

Mischa: Slick. Smooth. She narrows her eyes at you, and like, you kind of look at Fran, and then she looks at Fran, and Fran, you're, you're very much giving nothing. 

[Laughter].

Lyn: It’s giving… nothing.

Mayanna: Yeah. Go, girl, give us nothing. 

Bex: Yes! 

[Laughter].

Mischa: And Ravona says, 

Mischa (Ravona): Okay. 

Lyn (JJ): Is there something that we should have found? 

Bex (Ibra): Is there something we should be looking for? 

Mischa: She looks at you guys sort of, putting up a front, and she sees on that 7 persuasion, she's not convinced you didn't find anything. 

Bex: Genuine, genuine question from Ibra. There is no front from Ibra.

Mischa: I know. I'm aware. She says, 

Mischa (Ravona): No. It's my job to look for something. 

Mayanna: Insight check. 

Mischa: Yeah.

Lyn: Yeah, that feels insight checking as fuck. 

Bex: Hell yeah.

Mayanna: Alright, here we go. Alright. 

[Dice rolls].

Lyn: 24. 

All: Woah. 

Mayanna: Okay, yeah, it was like 7. 

Bex: 16. 

Ian: I'm-I'm eating a muffin. 

Mayanna: I'm also eating a muffin. 

Bex: This is JJ vs. Ravona. 

Lyn: (Retching).

Mischa: Yeah, JJ, I think, yeah, you and Ravona clock each other not telling each other things. She says,

Mischa (Ravona): I know you four, who have put a lot on the line in the past two days and advanced my investigation, for which I'm profoundly grateful. I'm just one person, and I'm investigating this on my own. It's a special assignment direct from the governor's office, and I want to do it well. You've invested a lot in this over the past two days. But there are just certain things about my investigation that I can't reveal to the public. 

Bex (Ibra): We’re your team though.

Mayanna (Fran): What? To the public? That's so interesting. I thought we were– 

Bex (Ibra): I thought we were a team.

Mayanna (Fran): Yeah.

Lyn (JJ): We know, and we remember. 

Bex (Ibra): You need us, and I think that it's fair for us to have information. 

Mischa: She looks at you all scornfully, and she says, 

Mischa (Ravona): This is why I won't share it. You've invested a lot, and you've done great things, and you've helped me. But the four of you are children. 

Mayanna (Fran): (Scoffs).

Mischa (Ravona): For the good of our society, for the fabric of our society, there are certain things that must stay hidden. And I know that you want to help, and I know that you're ready for more responsibility, but you don't have it yet. We met yesterday. 

Mayanna (Fran): (Scoffs).

Mischa (Ravona): You are not the only people who remember these events. I rely on all of you who can, and I am grateful for your help. But that does not mean you are entitled to knowing everything about this investigation. There are things that are simply unsafe to share. 

Mayanna (Fran): You're right. 

Mischa (Ravona): And if that means there is some layer of mistrust between us, I only hope that we're both keeping the good of the city in mind.

Mayanna (Fran): Yeah, some things are just too unsafe to share. Well. 

Mischa (Ravona): That'll be that, I guess. 

[Music fades out].

Mayanna (Fran): I got some wounds to go tend to. 

Bex (Ibra): Yeah, that's another thing. we are putting a lot on the line, as you have so graciously acknowledged, including our health and well being. I have a lot of broken ribs right now, and it's really hard to breathe. And I'd really appreciate my boss kind of helping me out with that? Cause I'm a little in pain, and I'd rather not be in pain anymore. I'm pretty sure the temporary stuff has worn off, and I'm starting to get owie. 

Ian: I start to pull out another muffin, but everyone looks at me, and I slowly, put it back in my bandolier.

Mayanna (Fran): We should probably get Ibra to a medic. 

Bex (Ibra): Yeah, that'd be nice. 

Mischa: She–Ravona says, 

Mischa (Ravona): That is true. And we acknowledge and appreciate your sacrifice. You can have any medical expenses billed to my office. You have my contact information. 

Mayanna (Fran): Thank you. That's very helpful. 

Ian: Gordon sneers. 

Mayanna: Yeah, let's go. 

Bex (Ibra): You heard it gang, let's go get scans.

[Music begins: melancholy piano]

Ian: And we all sort of like, limp away over the rubble. 

Mayanna: I'm like, gripping my backpack, like, I'm so mad. 

Lyn: Yeah.

Mayanna: I'm so, I'm so frustrated, cause it's like, my boss at the fuckin Boggins Bistro tells me I'm a child, like, my parents are always telling me I'm children, and like, we're like, in the rubble, diggin’ around, goin in glass caves, and this lady has the gall to call us children. I'm so done. 

Ian: The worst part is that when she said that, then camera turned back to us and we were all two feet tall, you know, and, and like half drawn. 

Mayanna: Yeah. We're, like, bleeding. Two of you got knocked unconscious. I'm so livid. 

Bex: You literally have a backpack on. Like, we look, she's looking down on us, and we are.

Mayanna: Yeah.

Bex: (Groans). Ibra feels like they're facing up against the doctor again.

Mayanna: Yes, exactly. 

Lyn (JJ): Thank you, Inspector Ravona, I-I hope that you can trust that we certainly have the best interests of our people in mind. 

Ian (Gordon): (Afar) Come on, JJ. 

Mayanna (Fran): (Afar) Ibra's buckling over here. 

Lyn (JJ): I'm sure we'll be in touch soon. 

Mischa (Ravona): I'm sure we will. 

Mischa: And you walk your way down the street to get Ibra some medical attention, and Ravona turns her back to you.

Mayanna: I'm like, gripping my backpack so hard, just like, I wanted to believe, but I'm so disappointed now. 

Bex: Ibra feels more than ever that Fran was right. 

Mayanna: I think, I think like, we just keep walking and I'm like, 

Mayanna (Fran): Yeah, some things are too unsafe to share. 

Lyn (JJ): Come on, we got more work to do.

[Theme music].

Mischa: The Wandering Path was created by me, Mischa Stanton, and produced by Bex Taylor-Klaus, Lyn Rafil, and me. This story was game mastered and sound designed by me, Mischa Stanton, and was played and performed by Bex Taylor-Klaus, Lyn Rafil, Ian McQuown, and Mayanna Berrin. Cover art by Lyn Rafil, and music courtesy of the Independent Music Licensing Collective.

Our production and house manager is Erin Bark. If you like what you're listening to, please tell your friends and let them know where to find us. Our website is wanderingpathpod.com, where you'll find links to subscribe and follow us wherever the path leads. We're also on Patreon, patreon.com/wanderingpathpod.

We're so grateful for anything you can do to help us keep making this show. Thanks for wandering with us. ‘Til next time!