Eight has struck first! The trio now battle under the sewers for their freedom. Will they walk away from this as free individuals, or will they be forced into a life of crime?
Determined to protect their friends, Eight makes the first attack against Hassan. Rialla and Jokul are quick to join in the fray, their contributions making it difficult for their adversaries to gain any ground in the fight. In a stroke of genius, Rialla conjures up Hassan’s worst fear to successfully distract him. Using his spiked chain, Jokul is then able to quickly dispatch the would-be king of thieves.
Lily and Marcus now beg for mercy and freedom. While Eight is determined to see an end to them for what they’ve done, Rialla and Jokul agree to let the pair go so long as they promise to live out the rest of their lives as respectable citizens. Gathering up their belongings, the group now wonders what has become of Arthas.
Follow Dax @GM_Dax, Cole @ColeMorreale and Wren @ThornyDryad
Transcript by CJ Kallevig
Upbeat piano intro ends [00:28]
Muted, heavy beat music fades in [00:30]
Wren: Should I make a cool check because I was expecting to attack?
Dax: Sure
Wren: Yayyyyyy, it’s worse than the other one. I have a Boost, can I get my Strain back? As I collect myself before the ensuing battle.
Dax: Yes. An Advantage, you mean?
Wren: Yes, sorry. An Advantage.
Dax: Yes, you can have your Strain back.
Wren: [softly] Yayyyyy!
Cole: I have, I rolled two Success and an Advantage. Can I use that Advantage to fix my Strain?
Dax: Yes you may. Eight, what did you roll? Just the Advantage?
Wren: Yeah, I just had an Advantage.
Dax: Okay, and Jokul?
James: I have one Success.
Dax: Eight, you are going to go and then it is, actually oddly enough, rotating. NPC, PC, NPC, so on and so forth. So, Eight, you did your first shot. So go ahead and take your opportunity.
Wren: Okay. I’m going to do an attack spell. I have to increase the range by one because he’s at what, medium range? And I’d like to do a manipulative version, which allows me to move the target a range band in any direction. So, I’m going to try and pull him towards us, so that we can dogpile on him.
Dax: Okay.
Wren: So I’ve got three purple in difficulty and I've got my Arcana skill which is two yellow and a green. And I have a Setback die because my armor configuration makes casting spells a little more difficult for me.
Dax: You’re also going to want to upgrade one of your difficulty.
James: There are only two guys in the room now, right?
Dax: It’s Lily and Marcus are still there, and so is Hassan. So you have three. The other two left. One went to go get the rations and one went to deal with the jail, to get Arthas free.
James: Okay. So, hopefully they’re long gone and they don’t hear this all go down!
Wren: I just have a Threat left over.
Dax: I think that’s more for if it’s a failure. But, I’ll say that you can either choose to strain or take a wound. You see Eight going “hnggggg”, and all of a sudden [ch noise] oh, oh. [laughter]. Hassan, at that, begins to look very angry. He says,
Dax (as Hassan): Fine! If you would rather serve in pieces, I could make a good pretty penny selling you.
Dax: And with that, he draws his sword and he’s going to move into melee with you. He is going to raise his sword and take a swipe at you, Eight.
(overlapping slightly)
Wren: I would like to dodge.
Dax: Let me get out my dice. Alright, melee so that’s two. One, two.
Wren: I’m, I’m literally going to dodge. I’ll suffer two Strain and inflict two upgrades on his combat check.
Dax: Okay.
Wren: I also have a melee defense, so he has a Setback imposed because of my Juggernaut form.
Dax: Okay. So, Success and a Threat was left over. Hassan rushes forward, and as he raises his sword to try and take a swipe at you, you manage to move out of the way. And unfortunately, the strain from turning at the last second gives him a crick in his back and you see him go…
Dax (as Hassan): Uh! mmm. [groaning noises]
Dax: As he goes to right himself, Rialla, you are up.
Cole: Does he have to move past me to get to Eight?
Dax: Nope, you’re to the left. Yeah, so he should be in melee range for everybody now.
Cole: I want to use this, so it’s under curse and it’s the Divine Despair, and the target’s Strain and Wound thresholds are reduced by an amount equal to the character’s rank in Knowledge. And that’s a hard difficulty? It’s a moderate difficulty.
Dax: Yeah, go ahead.
Wren: Since he’s an adversary, we have to upgrade the skill check once?
Dax: Yep.
Cole: Okay, so it’s a hard-
Dax: So two purple, one red.
Cole: Ooo, I like that.
Dax: Oh (overlapping with Cole), so then one purple, one red.
Cole: Oh, okay. I have two Successes and a Boost.
Dax: Alright! So what would you like to use your Advantage on?
Cole: I want to give that to Jokul for his turn.
Dax: Okay. So Jokul, on your next turn, you’re going to get a blue die to your check and so you’re going to successfully curse this person, and you said that that reduces his, uh..?
Cole: The target’s Strain and Wound thresholds are reduced by an amount equal to the character’s ranks in Knowledge.
Dax: Knowledge ranks, so one rank in Knowledge. Okay, so they’re reduced by one.
Cole: And, what that looks like is, I grab my holy symbol. I raise my hands up and the veins on my face get really dark and my eyes go white again. My hands, what you can see from just the fingers, since I have gloves on, my skin starts to look kind of ashy. This giant swirl of black smoke and if you look, it almost looks like a swirl of black feathers. I hold my hands out and it wraps itself around Hassan before collapsing in on him.
Dax: And as this collapses down on him, you hear,
Dax (as Hassan): [coughing] What? What is this?
Dax: And I think, I think that’s it for you because you’re not going to want to move too far. Are you?
Cole: No.
Dax: Okay. So that will be the minions. The minions are next. So Jokul, be thinking about what you want to do, if you have not already. You are on deck. Alright. You can hear, as you’re finishing up your curse Rialla, the sound of metal sliding against a leather scabbard. You can see Marcus now is standing up from the sofa, where he was seated and writing. As you can see him moving towards you, Rialla, from behind you, you hear feet walking against stone. Then you feel something slice, or rather, the sound of a sword just missing its mark. Jokul, you’re up. And then Eight, be thinking about what you want to do.
James: Correct me if I’m wrong, everybody’s now in melee range. Where-
Dax: Yep.
James: Where it’s just three on three right now, right?
Dax: Yep.
James: Okay. I don’t have my weapon drawn so I have to use my incidental to quick draw my chain. So that’s, I hope that’ll be just as surprising! Ah-hah!
Cole: Finally get to use this!
James: Behold, my spiky jump rope of death! Yeah, and then I’ve got my eyes set on Hassan cause goddamn, I’m going to stab that man.
Dax: Alright. Now, you have a Boost that was given to you by another PC but any difficulty is going to be upgraded once.
James: I have four Advantage. Everything else washes out. Feature of the spiked chain is I can spend three Advantage to disarm a foe of one item. That’s a scary looking longsword so….
Dax: Okay, so you throw your chain forward and you manage to wrap it around Hassan’s wrist. The longsword drops to the ground and you hear him, not only grunting from the bad twist in his back from earlier, but now he’s caught and his wrist is like….
Dax (as Hassan): Ughhh! Let me go!
[Laughter from multiple sources]
Cole: [laughing sarcastic] Yeah, okay, sure.
[more laughter from the cast]
Dax: Anything else Jokul, or are we moving on to Eight?
James: The chain’s letting him go but his longsword’s disarmed?
Cole: Out of his hand.
James: Can I use my last advantage to make sure that the longsword goes one range increment away from him, so he can’t just pick it right back up?
Dax: Would that be an Advantage or do I want to make you spend a Story Point for that?
James: I’ll do either.
Dax: I’ll say if you want to make it extra theatrical and kind of movie-like, spend a Story Point to have the sword toss farther away. And Eight, I think you’re up.
Wren: Having set up the combat, and seeing my friends springing to try and fight against our oppressor. The whip chain disarmed him, he’s clutching his wrist and reeling with his strained back. I take the opportunity to pop my meat tenderizer out of my wrist as a maneuver. So I have my hammer. I look at Hassan and I say,
Wren (as Eight): While my friends aren’t thieves, there is one thing you had correct. We are powerful and dangerous.
Wren: And I will use, as an incidental, I want to do my Scathing Tirade. All enemies in short range suffer a Strain for each Success that I generate. So, I’ll go ahead and do that to start. Coercion! Ooo, it’s Willpower. Ooo I have a rank in it. OOO! And, ooo, okay. They each take two Strain for my Successes and I would like Hassan to take two additional Strain because the two Advantage I have left over. And, I have Improved Scathing Tirade. They all suffer one Setback to all skill checks for a number of rounds equal to my ranks in Coercion, for a round. That’s that. And then, with my action, I’m going to swing my hammer which is on-brandedly called “Inquiry”. I will make a melee check on him. It’s a melee(light) check, I have a Brawn of three which is great. I don’t have any ranks in melee, because I’m not that kind of robot. I’ve upgraded my difficulty check once because he’s an adversary. Am I missing anything? [pauses] Ooo, a Boost!
Dax: Yeah, I was going to say you got a Boost from James.
Wren: And I believe that’s all I’ve got. So after I say this, and make them all feel bad about themselves, I strike upwards towards his chin with my hammer and I do hit. However, I’m going to suffer, I have a Threat left over. So I have a Success and a Threat. So my damage is going to be a seven, before Soak? What would you like to have happen with the Threat?
Dax: Let’s have you take a Strain.
Wren: In my shoulder, as I attack.
Dax: So, Hassan reels back. You see him stumble as he takes the meat tenderizer to the chin. He turns to look over at you and you see blood is now dripping out of his mouth, down his chin.
Wren: I’d like my eyes to be red right now please.
Dax: Bright red, okay. He reaches up, behind his back and draws a really big and sharp knife, kid you not. [laughter] That is the description, a really big and sharp knife. Kind of the equivalent of a shortsword. He poises himself, and says…
Dax (as Hassan): Alright. If you want to take me down, come at me.
Dax: Rialla, you’re up.
Cole: Okay, so I want to conjure up his worst fear and play some mind tricks on him.
Dax: Sure. Yeah, I know you said you wanted to conjure his worst fear. What sort of result do you want out of it?
Cole: I want him to be distracted by this thing, I want him to think that it is real and I want him to be fighting that.
Dax: Okay. That sounds like Conjure then, if you want to create a spectral thing for him to kind of see and feel that he needs to fight. Then yeah, Conjure would definitely be the best one for that. Conjure says Arcana or Primal, and it says it’s going to be an easy check, but you do have to upgrade because it is an adversary.
Cole: So it’s a red die?
Dax: Yep.
Cole: If he’s afraid of cats or something stupid, because I’m basically divining what his fear is and then pulling it out and manifesting it.
Dax: Quick question: are the rest of you able to see this when you conjure it? Are you going to make it almost look like a physical form? Or is it just something in his mind’s eye? Just for the fun, do you want to say that you can see it?
Cole: Yeah!
Dax: Yeah, alright. So go ahead and make your spellcast.
Cole: So three green, one red?
Dax: Yep.
Cole: Three Successes and a Boost.
Dax: Three Successes and an Advantage. So before we resolve the Successes, what would you like to use your Advantage for?
Cole: Give it to the next PC.
Dax: Alright, going to give the Boost to the next PC which will be Jokul. So you cast your spell, Rialla. Is it another cloud of black feathers?
Cole: Mhmm.
Dax: Okay.
Cole: And the ground kind of shakes a little bit as like (whooshing sound) coming up from the ground.
Dax: Okay. So, this black cloud, this mini tornado comes into existence and the ground shakes just for a moment. When it dissipates, you see standing before you, a ventriloquist dummy. And Hassan stops and looks down. You see that the ventriloquist dummy has turned and is now looking straight up at Hassan. It’s one of those kinda cute, and I say cute very loosely, bright big blue eyes and the golden curls and this little pink dress. It’s got its arms splayed out, almost as if it’s looking for a hug and you hear,
Dax (as dummy): [barely female, rather monotone voice] Mama?
Dax: Hassan, [laughter from players], backs up, points…
Dax (as Hassan): What is that? Get it out, make it go away.
[Cole laughs]
Cole: I want it to advance. It’s going to bother the fuck out of him.
Dax: Yeah, it’s going to move a little closer. Anything else or are you all set?
Cole: Is that my maneuver and action? Making the thing move forward threateningly?
Dax: I’d say if you want to use your maneuver to shift, we could say that the movement is on its own accord of the spell.
Cole: Okay.
Dax: Because you did summon this thing to be a nuisance to him, so.
Cole: Yeah, I want him to be busy with that. And then, how far is the chest from me?
Dax: It’s behind you. Most things are out of it, Lily was emptying it while Hassan was doing his exposition.
Cole: I’ll scootch a little bit closer and I want to (overlapping)
Dax: Sure! You can use your maneuver for that.
Cole: Yeah, I’ll get closer to that and then that’s my turn.
Dax: As you shift, you see Lily now is come into view. She takes the opportunity as you move by her, to take a swipe at you. She goes to take a swipe at you, but her foot gets caught on the rug and she misses. Marcus does the same thing, he goes to take a swipe at Eight. He has now closed in to Eight and he also misses Eight, manages to shift just at the last second. Jokul you are up. Eight, be thinking about what you want to do.
James: I want to continue stabbing Hassan with my swords.
Dax: Alright, so you’re going to move in closer and, just enough, because you’re in melee range with him now.
James: I’m okay with this. Four Success, two Advantage, one Triumph.
Dax: So you have four Success, two Advantage left over.
James: Yep.
Dax: So you do 11 damage to this person?
James: Yeah, I’m stabbing Hassan for 11 damage.
Wren: Minus one to his Soak because it’s Pierce one?
James: Yes. I then can do the rapid archery linked thing to stab him again, correct?
Wren: To basically do free damage.
James: Oh it’s just free damage, it’s not another roll?
Wren: Yep. It says you get another hit, which basically just means ‘Hey! You hit again’.
James: So it’s just another 7 damage or is it 11 damage? When a character uses a linked weapon on a successful attack, the weapon deals one hit.
Dax: So I think that would be your base damage.
James: So another seven then.
Dax: Yeah. So Jokul, how do you want to do this?
James: Woo! Just, the chain, like Ghostrider, the chain just goes around the neck and
[James imitates a crunching noise].
Dax: You do that and you see Hassan fall first to his knees, and then the body falls to the floor. Lily and Marcus stand there, with their weapons still ready, but they look frickin terrified. And now they are looking at you, between you and Rialla, and their expressions clearly say ‘we give up’.
James: Jokul will let them surrender, just, he gives them that meaningful glare, drop the swords.
Music changes to soft piano [17:27]
Cole: For further intimidation, my eyes go white and the veins get really thick. There’s this wind effect that flares up and I’ll stare them down.
Cole (as Rialla): Are we done here?
Dax: I’m not even going to make you roll for that intimidation. I’m just going to have them drop their swords and they both raise their hands in placating gestures with their palms out. They nod.
Wren (as Eight): We can’t trust these thieves.
Dax (as Lily): No, no you can! I promise.
Dax: Lily says.
Dax (as Lily): We, we don’t want any trouble. You're.. I think you’re a little bit more dangerous than Hassan realized. You’re free to go. Nobody will hurt you. We promise.
Cole (as Rialla): See…. But here’s the thing, we were told that we need to turn in the real thieves of this bird so that we can get our friend back.
Wren (as Eight): I suppose that means they’re coming with us.
Cole (as Rialla): I think so.
James (as Jokul): Depending on how lenient we feel, we do have the culprit, the body.
Cole: Is Hassan dead dead, or just unconscious?
Dax: He is no longer part of this world.
Wren (as Eight): I read a few tales of pirates, back in the tower, and they have a saying. Or at least as the book said. ‘Dead men tell no tales’. And I assume bringing a corpse to the guard station wouldn’t really absolve us of anything now, would it?
[overlapping of Rialla and Lily]
Cole (as Rialla): I have a trick for that.
Dax (as Lily): Well, um, if you. Hold. Can I move?
Cole (as Rialla): Go ahead.
Dax: Lily backs up, her hands still palm outward so that you can see she means no harm. She goes and rummages behind one of the sofas and you hear a crate opening. She pulls out a book and she slowly moves forward. She pushes the book outward indicating for you to take it.
Cole: I take it.
Cole (as Rialla): What’s…
Dax: Do you look through it?
Cole: Yeah.
Dax: Inside, you see dates and names of people. You see things such as ‘gilded mirror’, you see ‘silver comb’, things of that nature under those names and dates. Lily looks down at the book, then looks up at you and says.
Dax (as Lily): Those are all of our jobs from this past year. If you put that on Hassan’s person when you turn it in, they should believe you. And, and Marcus and I can go. Yes?
Cole (as Rialla): Why were you involved?
Dax (as Lily): It was easy money. And all I had to do was put on a pretty face and go to some parties and distract some noblemen. I didn’t actually do any of the dirty work.
Wren (as Eight): They’re thieves.
Cole (as Rialla): And what about you?
Dax: Marcus turns to you.
Dax (as Marcus): [low, nasally voice] Like Lily said, it was easy money.
Wren (as Eight): These two must go to jail. So must the rest of them. They’re bad people.
Cole (as Rialla): Not everyone involved with the thieves guild is bad. It’s bad situations that lead people to do bad things.
James (as Jokul): These two are in situations that we’ve found ourself in similarly.
Cole (as Rialla): I would have given anything to be let go.
James (as Jokul): Agreed.
Cole (as Rialla): We will let you go, but you need to make this right.
Dax (as Lily): Okay?
Cole (as Rialla): Don’t get involved with anything like this. You’re better than this.
Dax (as Lily): Okay. If that’s all I have to do for you to let me free, I suppose I could find a.. job.
James (as Jokul): Trust me, if you find yourself continuing down this path, it gets much worse. Get out while we’ve given you the chance.
Wren: My eyes are still blood red as I’m staring at these two.
Dax (as Lily): Will, will the Warforged... they won’t come after us, will they?
James (as Jokul): Not if you listen to our advice and shoo.
Dax (as Lily): All right.
Dax: Lily and Marcus book it out the cavern. You two stand there, in this circular room, the dank smell of the sewer walls emanating, filling your nostrils. You have a chest open in front of you, with all of your belongings that had been stolen by Hassan and his crew when you met them in the desert. What are you all discussing now? And doing? You have a, the body of Hassan laying not too far away from you. Other than that, you are completely alone.
Cole: We have the book too, with all of the.. their ledger.
Dax: Yep, all the contacts, all the jobs they’ve run recently.
Cole: I’m just standing there, blank-faced. Staring.
Wren: Ah, I suppose Eight is standing over Hassan’s body and picking him up and adjusting him a little bit to set him down someplace a little more dignified. I guess? Or maybe just slap him on a table. I really don’t know at this point. But I’m just kind of adjusting the body like a sack of potatoes.
Wren (as Eight): This is what you deserved I suppose. But, it could not be helped. You were not a very good person.
Dax: Eight, can you roll me a resilience check please? And make it just a straight resilience check.
Wren: Five Success and an Advantage.
Dax: Are you serious?
Wren: You asked me to roll one of my best abilities.
Dax: Good lord. You feel, considering your abilities and your capabilities, a numbness at your fingertips.
Wren (as Eight): That’s peculiar.
Wren: So instead of feeling nothing, I feel that tingling numbness in my fingertips?
Dax: At the very tips, like if you were human, right before the bed of your nails, that very slight tingly numbness, as if your fingers were just coming back from a very long sleep.
Wren: I stop fiddling with the body and I just hold my hands out in front of me with the nails/cuticle part if, you know, my fingers were actually like that, facing up towards me. I’m just looking at my hands, turning them over, and touching the fingertips to the other fingertips. Just kind of awkwardly, in the stinky sewer, in the chamber.
Dax: When your fingertips meet, the feeling goes away. You’re back to normal.
Wren (as Eight): Most interesting. I don’t know what to make of that. How are you two doing over there?
Wren: I look over my shoulder and ask Rialla and Jokul.
Cole: Rialla hasn’t moved and she doesn’t answer.
James: Jokul’s just kind of idly polishing, like the chain’s obviously covered in most of Hassan, so it’s like, just shake it clean and be like, kind of shrug.
Wren: I walk over towards Rialla, who’s obviously a little distressed and lean in.
Wren (as Eight): Are you okay?
Cole (as Rialla): We, ah, I guess I, I don’t understand. We left. We’re not even from this plane, we’re not… I don’t know why anyone’s looking for us or, I don’t… Thank you, Eight.
Cole: And she looks up and looks at you. Her eyes are glassy.
Wren: I frown.
Wren (as Eight): You don’t need to thank me. But, I suppose the answer may be more simple than you think. This man,
Wren: And I gesture to the body on the floor.
Wren (as Eight): tormented the individual we met on the road in the desert, did he not? Perhaps in his desire to escape torture, he spilled all that he knew about the two of you. Perhaps that’s as simple as it is.
Cole (as Rialla): We could have been in the same position and stopped it.
Wren (as Eight): No. He was a bad man and you are my best friends. I will not let anything happen to you. I could tell that you did not want to have to be forced back into that type of existence. We should have the freedom to choose what we do with our lives.
Cole: I give Eight a hug.
Wren (as Eight): [soft gasp] A hug?
Wren: I reciprocate the hug, delicately wrapping my arms around, like down and over. And I’m smiling.
Wren [as Eight]: [slightly choked up] This is everything I wanted it to be.
[Cole laughs]
Cole (as Rialla): Thank you.
Wren: I look at Jokul, from across the small gap and say,
Wren [as Eight]: I will not let anything happen to the two of you.
James: Jokul nods and thanks you for your assistance. They helped basically prevent somebody else from going down their path, so while they can’t voice it properly, thanks for stepping up where they faltered.
Wren (as Eight): I suppose I must thank you too. If not for your intervention, I probably would have killed the other two as well. But to protect you!
Cole (as Rialla): That kind of life is complicated.
Cole: I let go and pull back.
Cole (as Rialla): People do things that they wouldn’t do under, I guess, the wrong circumstances. Good people will do bad things if it means protecting someone they love. If it means not being hurt. If it means not living in poverty, and maybe the two that we let go… Maybe they don’t right their ways, but at least they have the choice to do so. And it is hard to gauge who gets that chance. I don’t think your decision would have been wrong. It’s just, it’s hard. It’s a hard thing.
Wren: I nod in understanding. Not necessarily in argeement, but just, I hear what you’re saying.
Wren (as Eight): I understand. What say we check and make sure all of our belongings are here? If anything happened to Mother’s cooking utensils, I will be quite cross.
Dax: The good news is that all of your equipment is there. All of your lanterns, your rope, the few rations that you had left, your waterskins, everything. Any weapons that you hadn’t had on your person are there as well. All tucked into your knapsacks just as you left them.
Wren (as Eight): They really didn’t do anything with our stuff. They just stole it and brought it with them. Such scoundrels.
Cole: I don’t think Rialla and Jokul have a whole ton. Is it stuff, is it just like our packs? Can we just pick it up and go?
Dax: Yeah, all your packs and everything that had been sitting in Bessie’s cart that you wouldn’t have on you while you sleep, is the stuff that they took. Whatever was easy access.
Cole: So we can just put it on.
Dax: Yep.
Music fades out [29:43]
Dax: Thanks for listening! We hope you’ll join us next time but in the interim, follow us on Twitter @RoadsUncharted.
The “Roads Uncharted” podcast is GMed and produced by Dax, using the Genesys Roleplaying System published by Fantasy Flight Games. You can follow me on Twitter @GM_Dax.
Jokul Genhorn is played by James and Arthas, Champion of Offam is played by Neil.
Rialla Lenoir is played by Cole, follow them on Twitter @ColeMorreale and check out their art.
Eight is played by Wren, who also composed the music for our opening theme, follow them on Twitter @ThornyDryad.