ROC Episode 34: Secrets of the House Betsy

After defeating Count Drake, the Godslayers find an Elven Artificer in the next room where the madman Dr Von Rick reveals the secrets of the House Betsy.

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Episode Transcript

(00:06):
Hello again friends and happy holidays from Descent.
This week's episode of DND 721 is sponsored by K9 Finance, who
is also here to wish you all a very happy holiday season.
It's already December and K9 is looking to finish the year
strong and kick off 2026 with a bang.

(00:28):
We don't have the details yet, but what I can say is that last
holiday season, it was a great time to be a whale of canine
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learn more about all of the benefits of holding canine at

(00:51):
caninefinance.com. That's K the number 9 finance
dot com and be ready to run withthe pack.
Hello everybody and. No, no.

(01:14):
I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't know you were starting.
Wait, wait, can we stop? We should order them three
before we start. Please continue.
Knowing Yamas, that probably won't get edited out.
Hello everybody and welcome to another exciting adventure of
DND 721 in our RIP of Chaos campaign.

(01:36):
My name is Mudd, I am the dungeon master of this
three-part haunted house series that has extended well out of
spooky season and into cozy sweaters, flannels, scarves and
Turkey season. But here we are and I am joined
by 5 wonderful returning players.
My 5 returning wonderful players, if each of you could

(01:58):
please say hello to the good people and introduce yourself
and your character. Been too long, I don't know who
I am. Benny llamas here.
I guess we'll go bottoms up. Yes I I am llamas.
I have recently died in another episode.
If you haven't listened to it, spoilers, but I play Pebble here

(02:22):
in the RIP of Chaos and level 8 Echo Night Barbarian.
Fun stuff. I don't know what you're all so
afraid of. Go ahead, introduce yourselves.
Well, Zach sent an order that wewere going to go in.
Arch has not gone and Yamas started it from the bottom, so
now we're waiting. For he said bottom up, so I just

(02:43):
gave up. So we're waiting for wall.
I'm on. My answer OK Walla Skittles,
we're all dead. Thank you for coming.
I played the the the Kissoon Paladin Warlock and but we're

(03:04):
having a great time. Hey, this is Tolton playing
bragger near the humble your level 8 Asimar Bard I.
I still think everyone in this building is a werewolf.
Oh yeah. Definitely not.
He took the life out of me. This is Pyro, I am playing
narlaween 1/8 level artificial high elf.

(03:28):
What's an affinity for fire lightnings?
And I'm pretty sure that the count 8 my homunculus last turn
or last episode. So we're going to have to go
about sticks in that. And hello, this is Nokia Miss
Swisserman playing a level 8 druid.
Well technically 7 druid, one wizard.
I dabbled in the necromancy and my neck is still bleeding from

(03:51):
the previous encounter. You loved.
It yes, I did. Yeah, and you guys made me feel
all kinds of awkward with all ofthe consensually questionable
neck biting. With that, let's.
Jump into our recap. Welcome.
Back, everybody. You are still in the House of

(04:14):
Betsy, the gargantuan walking mansion that swallowed up
several of you, and then the rest of you willingly chose to
jump in. Some of you flying in through
chimneys, jumping in through thedoor, or breaking in through
windows. And you all found yourselves
within the haunted House of Betsy, where you encountered a

(04:38):
number of frightening things, number of puzzles, number of
encounters, a number of different spooky shifting rooms.
And in our last session you all ended with a long drawn out
fight with Count Dreck the vampire who invited you all to

(04:58):
his banquet and feast, only for you to find out that it was all
corpses on the tables and that the five of you were part of the
feast. However you surprisingly
miraculously defeated Count Dreck in a knock down drag out
fight that had everyone getting the life drained out of them and

(05:22):
familiars attacking and some people hiding under tables not
sure what to do and looking at rocks And eventually with a
combined arcana check and some rule bending with some spells
you were able to fully kill Count Drake.

(05:43):
You gathered up some ashes and added some stuff to your
inventories that you all found, and you found a new door opening
leading to a new room, which youall entered to find yourself in
a mad artificer's lair. Full.
Of contraptions and Tesla coils and arcs of electricity bouncing

(06:06):
from device to device and vials and beakers filling the shelves.
And a artificer turned, facing all of you.
A High elf who introduced himself as Artificer.
Von. Richtersteiner and he welcomed
you all to Betsy, which was bothhis greatest creation and his

(06:31):
greatest shame. And that, my bloody beat up
heroes, is where we are. So to set the scene, as I said,
this is a large laboratory environment, a lot of metal
contraptions, multiple desks andtables all containing beakers
and different artificer contraptions and tools strewn

(06:54):
all about the place. But the lab is an absolute messy
wreck. It is disorganized and
disheveled. Some bottles are tipped over,
there's sticky stuff sticking tothe floor for some reason.
In the corner there is a contraption that is set up to a
cage with a hamster in it, all kinds of other things.

(07:16):
And the floor is yours. How would you all like to
proceed? We were all in the room, I take
it right? Yes, you all entered together.
I would like to try investigating the hamster and I
want to I'd like to talk to it. Yeah, OK, let's yeah, let's just
jump in right in on the hamster.I'm almost half joking.

(07:43):
As soon as we said hamster, I was like, yes, talk with
animals, of course. Yeah.
OK, go ahead. Give me give me that
investigation check. As the five of you are in, von
von Richtersteiner is kind of greeting each of you as you file
into his lab. I like to hear myself a little
bit. Yeah, you've got an opportunity

(08:05):
to do that. I got a three.
It's a hamster in a cage with a lot of odd looking tubes and
metal and other things that makeno sense to you.
Anything else edible other than the hamster?
You see a number of vials sitting next to the cage that
all have a yellow kind of putridlooking substance in it and all

(08:31):
of them are corked. I kind of walk up them Von Rick,
and just kind of get real close to him and Von Rick, you don't
mind if I call you Von Rick? Do what do you?
Oh, I've been called a lot of things.
So no, I guess I don't mind. It's actually nice to talk with
somebody who's just a, you know,a.

(08:52):
Fellow elf. Oh Monarch, I'm actually a
fellow art officer and I would love to learn more about Betsy.
Can you help me learn everythingthere is to know about Betsy?
You see his eyes grow a little distant and he runs his hands
through his tangled hair. And he goes, Betsy, my poor

(09:15):
Betsy, Betsy, my love. And he turns away and he walks
up to one of his tables, his hands spread across several
scrolls that are scrawled acrossthe table.
And he goes. I bet Betsy was my betrothed, my
love. We were engaged, you see, And
Betsy, something happened to her.

(09:36):
No, something happened. It happened a long time ago, but
something happened. And now Betsy is the mansion and
the mansion is Betsy. And it's only at night.
I think it's at night. I can't see outside because I
can't leave because Betsy is the.
Mansion and and the mansion is Betsy.
And he turns back to you and he goes and I've been trying to

(09:57):
solve it. I've been trying to fix it.
I tried, I tried. Really I tried.
Did Betsy used to be a human? No, she not a human.
No, no. Elf.
Yes, she she was another elf like us.
Fair, fair featured and beautiful skin and long flowing
blonde hair. She she was the picture.

(10:20):
She. Tried.
She tried to eat me. Oh yes, she eats everything now.
Any, anything that she comes across, including I think you.
I saw in the room outside my labshe even managed to snag up one
of the minor counts of the vampire court among.

(10:40):
I don't know other unsatisfactory and unsavory
characters. I don't know if it's a good
thing, but she's not going to beeating anything else.
I I locked her mouth. Interesting, interesting.
You OK the melt? So you you magically sealed.
The front door. Yes.
Oh well, that that. Andrew and we killed the count.

(11:04):
Now I'm thinking about it, if she's going to try to eat people
anyway, you know, locking the mouth might have just caused
more pain than letting her eat people.
Oh, well, that's that's just the.
Dragon in her. Dragon in her.
Dragon. Yes, yes, the.
Dragon, the ancient dragon that I attempted I in the basement,

(11:27):
the my main lab, this is my, this is my satellite lab.
This was my out lab outside of the lab when I didn't want to go
down to the basement if I wantedanother room to work, I worked
in here. So it doesn't have all of my
things, but in the lab in the basement, that was where I
conducted the experiment to savemy dear Betsy.
And that's when Betsy became themansion, and the mansion became
Betsy. Can I do an arcana check to see

(11:51):
if I can see like the flow of magic in this room?
Yeah, you can give me an Arcana check.
There's a 26 hit. Yeah, you know it does.
It actually does the room. Is full of.
Arcana and both magical contraptions.
And there is the the the. Tesla coils that are powered,

(12:17):
there's Arcana all through it and.
You can see there is a flow exchange of arcana that's
circling the room and some is leaving the room.
But at the same time, there's another stream that's entering
the room coming from a door across the lab, and you also are

(12:37):
detecting a very concentrated amount of arcana coming from the
hamster in the corner. I would like to do say
investigation or nature trick onthe hamster.
You don't. Bother, it's just a hamster.
OK, I'm going to go ahead and doit anyway because I've never

(12:58):
listened to Pebble before. Sure, OK. 18 for the
investigation. There are a lot of contraptions
that are set up and connected both to the cage that the
hamster is in, but also within the cage there's a number of
wires and other things that are connected to the hamster itself.

(13:20):
And as the hamster moves around the cage, the wires dangle from
the ceiling of the cage, following around with it.
And there is a large pipe that comes out from the side of it
that has a almost like a cork tab to it, like a like a keg
tap. And.
Yeah, nothing want to. With that investigation you you
definitely detect that the high amount of arcana is coming from

(13:45):
not so much the hamster itself, but from the contraptions
surrounding it, and the the the arcana is concentrated within
the vials next to the cage. Can I go ahead and go over, hey,
Ron, Rick, what in the what is this and investigate it?

(14:05):
Yeah, well, you already investigated it, so he.
Well you said that the arcana seems to be coming more so not
from the hamster but from the vials.
I was kind of grouping all of that together for you.
OK, yeah, there there is a magical substance within the
vials, and von Richter is actually staring at Nokomis a

(14:30):
lot, and he blinks and goes. I'm staring.
I I'm sorry it's. Not light.
No, it's not. You're absolutely right.
I just you excuse me. I'm sorry.
Madame. You.
He's staring at while he's staring at Nokomis.
Can I steal one of the vials by the hamster?
Please give me a slight of hand check.

(14:52):
I just want to make sure I get one of these.
They come as winks do. I get a six all.
Right, here's the rattling of glass.
And he looks over his shoulder because at the same time
Narloween just asked him what's what's this?
And he rushes over, like scrambling over himself,
tripping on his own robes and like comes up and he like,

(15:16):
pushes you away, Pebble, and stands between all of you and
the hamster. And he goes, please don't,
please don't touch any of this. Please don't touch any of this.
This is very important. This was one of my experiments.
It was an attempt to try and better myself, to make myself
smarter and stronger so that I could try to help Betsy, to try
and fix Betsy, to undo all of this damage.

(15:36):
And I did this experiment and itdidn't quite work.
And now I need these vials. These vials are for me.
I need these vials and it's it'sof the utmost importance.
Nobody touched these vials. OK, well if it doesn't work, why
do you need the vials? Because because of side effects.
Side effects of what? I well, as as you know, and he

(16:01):
looks at Narlueen and a Comus goes ourselves.
You, you understand, we only need 4 hours of meditation a
day. But I was realizing that 20
hours a day was not enough time to dedicated to my work.
And because I was working so much, I kept, I, I kept
literally falling asleep becauseI wouldn't stop and I, I wasn't
taking time to meditate, but I needed every hour of every day

(16:24):
to work on trying to fix this. And I, I then conducted an
experiment to allow myself to nolonger need to sleep and no
longer need to meditate and thatI could sharpen my intellect and
focus more. And I it, it didn't work.
And instead I now, well, I suppose there's no point in

(16:46):
hiding it, but I now am no longer myself quite all the
time. I well, I I.
He's a werewolf. Well, no, that's it's funny you
should say that. I mean, werewolves don't exist
anymore, not since the Calamity,but I, I, I did change.

(17:08):
Something changed. I changed and I wish I
understood how and I wish I understood why, but I just, I
can't, I can't anymore. I can't, I can't carry on.
And these vials are the only thing that helped keep him at
Bay. The hamster.
Oh no, no, no. The hamster is just part of the

(17:28):
solution. He runs on the wheel and I, I
used to speak with animal and hegets some treats and he runs on
the wheel and he sweats and he produces a specific compound in
his sweat that I then add to thesolution that allows me to help
maintain the side effects. That's what's in these vials.
We're talking like Jacqueline Hyde right here.

(17:50):
I don't know what. The silence so the so the vials
keep you're you're not. You're other, not
self-contained. Well, is that who him is?
Well, who you're talking about? Him is me.
I am him because Betsy is the mansion and the mansion is
Betsy. And we've all changed.

(18:11):
And I was trying to do more to try and save Betsy, and then I
unleashed something else in me and he tries to undo my work,
you see? You see, Betsy?
Was. My fiance and he, he takes a

(18:33):
deep breath and you kind of see like his eyes focus a little
bit. He's been very scattered, his
hair in every direction and he'sbeen disheveled.
And you you see him kind of likelock in a little bit and he says
you have to understand Betsy wasmy wife and.
She fell I'll to the plague thatwas rampant here in Necrovan

(18:53):
many, many years ago. I I don't know how long it's
been. But she grew ill and I tried
many, many times in many ways tosave her, and she did eventually
die. And in my hubris, I thought I
could bring her. Back and do it myself and as a

(19:13):
artificer I, I, I did not have access to some of the tools and
some of the spells that might have made it easier and I
thought that I could do it with science and so.
And were you successful? Partially.
Betsy is alive, you see. She's a Walker house.
She she is she, she is the mansion and the mansion is her.

(19:35):
And he like starts like to get that kind of vacant wild eyed
look again. And then he focuses again and he
says, you see, she died and I attempted to reclaim her spirit
from Mortivas through Arcana andscience as I mentioned.

(19:55):
But I've required a a powerful source of also spiritual energy
and arcana. And so with my immense wealth, I
had my servants go out and help procure.
Me. Well, you know a dragon.
Living dragon as one does, of course.
Yes, yes. And we brought the dragon to the

(20:21):
lab in the basement. And I, I did all the math.
I did all the math. I ran the numbers so many times
to bring my love back to life, to bring Betsy back to me.
And driving a, a conductive rod through the dragon and killing
the dragon and connecting that to Betsy and the contraption

(20:44):
that I created for her. My attempt was to siphon the the
spiritual life force of the dragon and the arcana to bring
Betsy's soul back from the RiverStyx and back into Betsy with
with the power of the dragon andof my my my inventions and it it

(21:07):
almost worked, but then the dragon died like it was supposed
to, but Betsy also remained deadand then the dragon.
It it it was through this. Great strike of lightning that
hit the rod through the roof andit traveled down through the
house and into the dragon. And I don't know what I did
wrong. I'm still trying to solve it,
but he keeps messing up all my research.

(21:30):
But I tried. I wanted to and to bring her to
life. And you see he, it I well it
the, the dragon, you see it, it became the house and it became
Betsy and their souls combined. I did bring herself back, but it

(21:50):
came into the dragon and not her.
And she is still in the basementand she is the mansion and the
mansion is her. And also so is the dragon that
runs across Necrovan eating whatever it can find as a dragon
would do. But she is in there.
And I am now convinced. I am convinced that the only way

(22:13):
to fix this problem is to kill Betsy to to put an end to the
torment that she suffers. And I keep trying to find a way
to do it because I'm not strong enough to just defeat this
massive dragon by myself in the basement.
That is Betsy, that is the mansion, that is Betsy, that is

(22:33):
the dragon. But I can't.
And I'm I try to solve my mistakes again with science, but
every time I enter the basement,she attacks me.
And I try to solve a way to killBetsy to to let their souls be
at rest, but. He.
The other me keeps interfering and destroying my research.

(22:56):
Well. Maybe Betsy's trying to kill you
because you know, or Betsy is attacking you because you know,
or you're trying to. Kill.
Her. Have you tried talking to her?
I know that when my parents got into arguments, my mom, she
seemed to want to kill my dad. And then they just talked and it

(23:19):
was OK. He he laughs, and then he begins
laughing hysterically. And laughs at the ceiling, hands
in his hair again, and he's back.
I'll take that as a no. And his back arches and he leans
back, laughing harder and harder.
And when he straightens up looking at you, his eyes are an
intense amber yellow. And he says, I tried talking.

(23:44):
I tried talking. Of course I tried talking.
It's a dragon. Damn you Dragons don't just.
Talk to people. Well, you've got to speak with
animals. You said so already.
It doesn't work that way. You and.
He starts walking towards you, his hands stretched out as if
reaching for you to strangle you.

(24:06):
Pebble. OK, can I grab a vial and shove
it in his face? Yeah.
I was going to say, I'm going totry to persuade him to calm
down. Give me a persuasive as this is.
Happening as he is doing that. Go ahead, Pebble.
As all of that's happening, as the persuasion check is
happening and everything, as he's walking towards her beppel

(24:29):
bark Pebble materializes throughPebble and kind of like stands
in front, like protectively. Oh.
Yeah, he doesn't slow down. He he's coming at what's
directly in front of him, which is now Beppel, hands outreached,
eyes glowing amber. Thea as as you're doing this.
Let's go ahead and we'll just. Resolve it like as an attack

(24:51):
roll. The unarmed strike.
Yep. That's 11.
Brag Grenier, What was your persuasion check?
I didn't hold 1 yet. A three which is a 13.
Yep he I will. I will use my last target on

(25:12):
myself. I will say I'm going to be kind,
and so I'm going to say save it.Don't, don't, don't spend it, he
continues forward. Thea you're rushing forward with
a violin hand, and as you get closer, you don't quite get it
in his face, but he begins scrambling backwards and he
points and he says. You keep that stuff away from
me. You keep that away from me.

(25:33):
That's what he does to keep me locked away, to keep me from
doing what actually has to be done, from doing the hard thing
that has to be done. Darwin, can you grapple him with
webs or some shit? He's talking about putting Betsy
down. Is that what you're thinking is
the hard thing? Because you guys are thinking
along the same? What's the hard?

(25:55):
Thing he looks at you and his his features are thinner and
harder, his eyes glowing amber, his teeth getting sharper.
And he says that fool Von Richterstein wants to kill
Betsy. He wants their souls to be at
peace. That's the easy way out.
Killing her is the easy way. I want to save her.

(26:16):
I want my fiance back. We can help you.
We've done a lot of weird thingsand I think saving a house
dragon person Elf Betsy is just another thing that we can do.
You can't kill her. I don't want her dead.

(26:37):
She has to live. We have to find.
I haven't been able to find a way to save her because that
idiot, me, the other me, he keeps ruining my research.
Look at this. And he points to like a pile of
ash on one of the tables. I know I had it.
I know I had it figured out. And he burned it because he
thinks it won't work. So I went and smashed all of his

(26:58):
vials and then he came back and then he made more vials like
those. You keep those away from me.
But wait a minute, you 2 are. I put the vial in my pocket.
OK. You 2 are fighting, you're
destroying his stuff. He's destroying your stuff, yes.

(27:22):
Have you guys tried talking to each other?
For years we left messages to each other, but but he is so
hard headed with his stupid Elvin waste, he thinks the only
solution is to kill Betsy, to kill the dragon, to kill our
bride, to end the mansion. But he's wrong.

(27:45):
We can save her. I know we can.
We were so close. We were so close when we
conducted the experiment. It almost worked.
It just went the wrong way. What kind of experiment you talk
about? When we killed the dragon to
bring her spirit back, it almostworked.
I was there. I saw it, even if I wasn't quite

(28:06):
awake. You see, the spirits were
supposed to combine into Betsy, our love, our bride.
But instead the spirits combinedinto the dragon.
And a dragon spirit is so much larger than Elvin's spirit, it
just crowded her out. She didn't have the.
Room. She's still there, she's just

(28:27):
blocked. And then he bends over, gripping
his stomach and begins groaning and heaving as he dry heaves
over and over. And he staggers forward around
Pebble and your aspect, eyes blind, and he scrambles to the
table, arms outreached, grabbingseveral vials at once, all of

(28:51):
them, the whole stands tipping over, some vials breaking
putrid, acrid smells coming out.And he leans forward and he
begins huffing and inhaling the putrid yellow fumes and his
breathing gets steadier and he eventually looks over his
shoulder and he says I'm, I'm sorry.

(29:14):
And his eyes are the the normal pale green again.
He says I. I went too long without one of
my vials. I I went too long without
inhaling the vapors. I What did I do?
Did I hurt anybody? I'm sorry.
You told us how you guys were arguing and both have different
ideas on how this needs to be done.

(29:37):
He says he thinks he knows how to save.
He's a fool. Your wife, You can't believe
anything he says. What was his idea?
Well, I surely don't know. He won't tell me because he
thinks that I'll try to stop whatever it is, which I will,
because I must, because his plans will surely fail.
He is an idiot. He's a monster.
He's a brute. He he, he has these base

(30:01):
instincts of emotions and love and he's, he doesn't think.
He only feels I. However.
Have. Thought hard about what could be
done and I have concluded that there is no solution and that
Betsy must be put to rest. I I hate to say it, but it's

(30:22):
been, it's been bugging me sinceyou told me you bought.
A. You you, you use your wealth to
acquire a dragon. Why didn't you go to a cleric?
To to what? Bring back the dead.
Yes. Sure, yes.
If there was such magic as that out there in the world, then

(30:44):
yes, of course I I would have just done that.
But I can talk with the dead, and I can try to raise the dead
as well. I I don't know what that would
do her. Would you like to try to speak
with the dead? You you would have to go to the
basement to do it to to. To to see her body, could you?

(31:09):
Ask. Anybody who who feels like
they're wondering about this, give me a history check.
I'm done for a history check. I wanted to do an insight check
too. Oh.
That was so close to that 20. That hurt my soul.
I got it hurt my soul. I just had a video.
I got a nine. I got a 13 for history.

(31:32):
OK, brag Grenier with a 14. Yep.
Bragg, this is fuzzy to you. You don't know the details, you
just know that you've heard it before, that after the calamity,
the world was in such a tumultuous way, with the the
world ripped asunder, with the moon destroyed, with everything

(31:55):
that happened, so much power andknowledge was lost.
With a 14 your the you and Thea are are suddenly beginning to
wonder just how old is Artificervon Richtersteiner if he did not

(32:17):
believe something like Revivify was a spell that was available.
I was going to say, I thought you were trying to tell me my
whole Sarah plan was original. Sarah plan was.
Was bound to fail. I'm going to ask him how how,
How long have you been working on this with Revivify and and

(32:40):
Resurrection are are both commonly known spells by
players. My boy, I I don't think that
you're of the science persuasion, but even I know that
spells of such magnitude just don't exist in the world.
As to how long I've been workingon this, it's been.

(33:01):
Well. I Oh well, they, they became
other parts of the mansion sometimes, other times they were
just simply killed by Betsy as to my lab assistants and for
instance, my maids and my servants, they, they are,

(33:21):
they're all gone. Betsy either killed them.
She attacks everything on site down in the basement and that's
part of why I can't go down there.
But. It's you see.
I don't have a good way of keeping track of time.
I I assume it's been years? Can I can I tell?
I'm assuming everyone in the party knows what year it is.

(33:43):
Last time he tried to ask well with that.
I'm going to drop that tidbit ofinformation and be like, you
know, it's it's your blank, blank sounds like blank
calamity. I don't know that you I.
Have this written down somewherebut I don't have it right in
front of me. He he just starts laughing and
laughs at you. I'm going to need a persuasion

(34:05):
check. Gonna Bardic.
That was only a 14. That's a 17.
His laughter stops and his eyes flash yellow for a second and
then return to normal, as if both parts of him are hearing
this. And he says that's, that's
impossible. That's that, that can't, that

(34:27):
can't be true. It it it is true.
We just came. Yeah.
We came from a Lauria and Darlene here is his mom is
actually the Duchess there. How long have you, has your
family had that, that estate, Darlene?
I would say at least 2000 years.He blinks and he says a, a

(34:51):
Lauria that that was, that was atiny island out out in the
ocean. I remember hearing that a a
group of settlers were were traveling out that way to try to
settle it because they, they wanted to create a land
specifically for the elves. And I laughed at the time.

(35:11):
I told them that, you know, thatthat would be impossible, that
the land was too small and that it it would not that that they
couldn't try to make a nation out of an island, but well.
I pull out my signet ring and mylineage and I I show them the
paperwork. It's a really Big Island.

(35:31):
We barely escaped with our lives.
I'm on an airship. On on on a a a ship in the.
I'm so sorry. I'm very, I'm very confused.
I'm very and his eyes flash yellow again and you hear a
voice say that's impossible. That's.

(35:53):
That would mean we've been fighting each other for
thousands of years. Thousands and his eyes go back
to green. He goes, no, you, you, you stay
down, you monster. It's not so much so much time
wasted, so much time spent, that's how.

(36:14):
You guys should have been working together.
Yeah. You should have come to a
consensus and and decided. I mean, you want to kill Betsy,
but why not try his what? Why not?
Try. I want to.
Why not try his way first? Because.
Because the way you guys have been going out or going about

(36:35):
it, she's if you think she's, ifyou think she is suffering, you
have prolonged her suffering by fighting.
But only for a couple of years while I tried to solve this.
But but you're saying it's been thousands of years?
I think it's time you let him try.
He has tried countless times. He can't get near her body.

(37:00):
Betsy attacks us any time we descend the stairs.
You said countless. We killed the count, so this
house is countless. I got to go.
I'm going to go see the. Dragon now Victor Steiner starts
crying. Fuck your pun.
That's hilarious. So I, I, I think that our group

(37:26):
plans on on assisting you. Killing the dragon, of course.
Well, if if he hasn't been able to try because he can't get
close and we can get him close, he can try and if it doesn't
work, we will do it your way. No, I, I, I can't go down there.
I surely Betsy will will kill me.

(37:48):
But if you're if the five of youare willing to go to the
basement. To end Betsy to to slay the
dragon and let their souls be atpeace.
Then, then, then I, I, I would ask that of you.
I would ask that you do that forme and for her.

(38:11):
Before we go down, we we before we go down, we need to recover
from the cow. We need a place to sleep.
We need to relax a little bit before we go down.
So when we were navigating Betsy, the rooms, there's some

(38:31):
swapping. What is that?
How does that work? I, I, I, I don't know that I, I
fully understand it. It's something with the, the
wild arcana that was unleashed throughout the house during the
experiment. It you see the I I utilized
lightning to to slay the dragon.A.

(38:53):
A. A.
Full blast of lightning along with the Spearing.
And because the rod traveled through the entire house, the
arcana traveled through the entire rod and spread to the
entire house. I'd it's, it's I've seen it.
The rooms do change. It's almost as if there's some
part of my Betsy that is still there that is misremembering

(39:14):
what the house should look like.And over time it it grew more
and more grotesque, and the moreand more she killed the slaves
and servants and others denizensthat the dragon ate and brought
into the mansion do. You know what the house looks is

(39:36):
supposed to look like? Do you remember what it's
supposed to look like? I Do you have floor plans?
I I I did I used to. Well, we are here at an
inspection. Yes, yes we are.
Looks at you all and he says I again I I don't I don't know

(40:00):
it's my memory is. It's worth a shot.
I would like to try something tostabilize the house so the doors
don't change. Now this is going to sound
unconventional and I'm going to need your artificial of help.
Are you interested? I I, I, I mean I I would of

(40:23):
course help with trying to stabilize the rooms.
I will tell you this store here.And he points across the lab.
It always leads to the basement with whatever else has changed.
There's only one way in and one way out of the basement.
And Betsy does remember that. Well, we need a bedroom so that

(40:48):
we can sleep for the night before we go.
And I don't want to leave here for a bedroom and not be able to
come back in. So I've actually been struck by
lightning before and I roll up my sleeves to show them both my
forearms. And I think that I could cast
and absorb elements and absorb some of the lightning energy

(41:12):
that this pulsing through this house, as long as you help me
and stabilize at least one door to lead to a bedroom for us to
sleep for the night. We could certainly try I I will
tell you though that even if therooms do move and shift and
change, there are still many dangers in this mansion.

(41:32):
This lab remains a safe haven. I've never been attacked in here
and that is why I more and more I I left to the other parts I.
Haven't been in that dining roomin years.
I. I actually don't remember the
last time I. Ate I I've.
Just been in this lab. Would you like to eat these

(41:53):
ashes that we just found? Can if he's saying he doesn't
remember the last time he's ate,I want to do an insight check
and like examine him more closely.
Like not like walk up and examine him, but.
Sure. He's saying he's an elf that
switches over, but that's a 21. Yeah.

(42:14):
Is he dead? No, he he is alive.
With that insight, I would say the the what you are kind of
gathering from his entire story and everything he's described.
He was also affected in some waywhen the experiment was

(42:37):
conducted and it has essentiallyleft him in a semi immortal
state where he doesn't need to eat and he doesn't.
He obviously isn't aging but he has just continued to work in
his lab continuously and tirelessly and then conducted

(42:59):
experiments on himself trying tofurther his research on how to
save bet the the mansion and hiswife Betsy, his fiance there.
There is something undead about him that he obviously had not
realized even applied to him. And in this lab you can also see

(43:20):
by looking around there are no windows in this room.
He has also very clearly not realized the amount of time that
goes by with no no real clock orcalendar or a way to track
things. He has just been stuck in this
perpetual loop here in this lab.So my question, and I pose it to

(43:44):
him, it, it looks like you mightbe tied to these same energies
that have Betsy alive. If, if we kill the dragon, I
mean, I don't know what will happen to you.
It seems you you've gained long life and you you don't need to
eat. You haven't slept from what it

(44:06):
looks like. He.
Or showered. Yeah, I know he he is filthy and
he like runs his hands across his face a few times and he says
I don't know. I don't know anymore.
I thought I knew, but. I I would have to do the math
again. I would I would have to I I
would have to re recalculate everything.

(44:27):
I would have to I I would have to figure out, but if killing.
Betsy also releases her victims that are within my manner and if
it also if it also released me that might not be so bad hold.

(44:47):
On a second. That's why it sounds like you
just want to get out of. Here, I want my Betsy to be at
peace. If we kill the house, then what
happens to us? Aren't we inside the house and
tied to it right now? I can't rightly say.
The house may just become an inanimate object again.

(45:07):
You may just walk out freely. Or perhaps the house would
disappear entirely and you wouldjust appear back wherever the
house was standing. Or, well, I don't know.
Perhaps, perhaps we all die. I I don't know.
That sounds like some muddy logic.

(45:27):
Let me think, I don't know how. About you being.
Told that you've been alive for a couple. 1000 years and his
eyes glow amber, he says. And you tell me just how clearly
you're thinking. Let the rage take you.
Come on, we can speak. I Pebble and him are going to.
If he's going to let the rage out, Pebbles are going to let
the rage out and they're going to speak in Yelvish together.

(45:50):
He he the vial. He throws the vial across the
room and it shatters against a far wall and you can see he,
he's done this many times. And he turns to you, eyes
glowing, hands in claw like shapes.
And he goes. We have to save my fiance.
I don't know what that. I don't know what that floor Mr.

(46:12):
told you. But you could save her, you, the
five of you. I can't.
I'm. I don't have the strength.
All we need from you, all we need from you, is something of
her to remind her who she is. I want to cast Zone of truth.

(46:33):
OK. While he was raging.
That's saving thorough Charisma 15.
OK, he's aware of it. Yeah, he he failed it.
OK, so he is now aware that I cast a smell on him.
He turns to you and he goes. You stop it with that bullshit.

(46:56):
You stop casting magic in his lab.
I have to. I we have to.
I need. You.
To go down to the lab, save Betsy, you have to.
I know there's a way. I know that the contraption down
there, that bull artificer of me, he built something that
almost worked. I bet it could be fixed.
I bet it could be recalibrated. You just have to not kill Betsy,

(47:20):
not kill Betsy and and get to the basement and make the make
the invention work. Make the science do what it was
supposed to do to bring my love back to me.
Or is the invention? In the.
Basement, you idiot. Yeah, well.
That's not very nice. Go left to.
Right. Where do you think I would?

(47:40):
The basement is a single room. You imbeciles.
You're all idiots. You can't do anything.
You can't think for yourselves. You can't.
Yeah. You.
Yeah. Would you like me to to baby
feed it to you? Would you like me to just put it
in a bottle and and force feed it into your mouths for you?
Yes. The seal defender's going to go
ahead and grapple him and I'm casting web to hold him to the

(48:00):
seal defender. Tired of his bullshit.
He is. I was going to try and smack.
Him in the face, but that works.Yeah, you, you web him.
He's stuck to the steel defenderand he continues to rage more
and more. The steel defender.
He like pulls on the webbing andthe steel defender.

(48:21):
You hear this creaking, groaningsound as he pulls on the webs
and is contorting with the metalof the steel defender.
I'm not even going to make you do an insight check.
In this form, he is quite a bit stronger than he was as the
artificer. That's what I tell you.
Stronger. He is telling the truth.
He has been no. One's used to dealing with

(48:43):
Pebble, you know, so no one can handle somebody who's strong.
We, we need you to calm down. We, we want to help He.
We want to see if we can save her before we don't.
So don't you. At least I don't.
You care. Hurt her.
I want to try to save her for you.

(49:04):
I'm saying and he he begins justbawling, just weeping eyes
amber. He is still struggling with the
webs and against the steel defender and he says please, you
have to save her. I have tried so many times and
Richterstein keeps stopping me and smashing my progress and my

(49:28):
attempts to save her. But I know there's a way down
there. I know I just can't get down
there because Betsy attacks me every time she sees me.
But I know there's a way. There must be a way.
Something would. Something will work there.
There's always a solution, right?
If we were to get you down there, could you help us do your

(49:49):
experiment finish thing that science people do?
He he looks and he goes. I don't know.
I can't. I can't focus enough to.
I don't know. Climb in my backpack and we'll
go down there. Climb in your backpack.

(50:14):
No, no. I can't because if you fail, if
she kills you like she killed everyone else, I have to stay
here. I have to continue the work.
I have to continue to find a wayto save her.
If if you can't do it, she'll eat someone else and maybe they
can do it. Maybe they'll be stronger than
you because I don't know, you'rekind of small.
I don't think you could do it, but maybe you can.
So no, I will not go down there.I will save her and I will

(50:36):
continue the research and I willcontinue the work.
Do you think she's suffering? Yes, and that's why I have to
save her. How long are you going to allow
her to suffer? If it doesn't work, are you
still going to keep trying? Give me a persuasion check.
Ebbles getting really close to casting sleep on this guy.

(50:56):
All that was almost in that 20. That's an 18 ball.
That's not quite high enough forwhat I've got written down here,
he vehemently shakes. How?
About a Flash of Genius +3 right?
Assuming plus 4 buddy, we've levelled up. 22 baby.

(51:18):
I'm going to give you a mixed success.
The DC here was 25. He He shakes his head.
More he goes. No, no, I do you understand I'm
the contingency plan if you fail.
But you can't get close. No, but other heroes will be
eaten like you. You'll get someone else, maybe a

(51:40):
clerk, one of these, one of these clerks that you say know
that know the revivify spell. Maybe they'll be able to do it.
I've been eaten before, it's no big deal.
Let's go. I wouldn't sleep last night.
OK, so to to clear the air. Yeah, let's reset a bit.
I'm going to. I'm going.
To reset the room. Doctor von Richtensteiner has

(52:03):
two sides. One side of him wants to kill
the dragon in the basement to end the madness, and he doesn't
know what the outcome will be. His other half, who has not
introduced himself, but that would be Sir Steiner Richtervon.

(52:24):
Steiner Richtervon wants. To save Betsy.
Now. What you guys can?
Deduce from all of your different checks.
This elf is split in two. He has an analytical side, his
his artificer, his science, his logic.
And he has his emotion version which can't think straight and

(52:49):
can't logic and can't do the things it needs to do, but it
desperately based on emotion. Wants.
To save his fiance, you know that there's a door leading to
the basement, you know that there is Betsy in the basement
and Betsy attacks anyone who goes down there, including him,

(53:10):
and that is how his other staff and servants have died.
You guys can surmise he has tried multiple times with
experiments to try to do something in the basement to
either save Betsy or kill Betsy at multiple different times
depending who was in control at the time.

(53:31):
And you also are getting the sense that he has been stuck in
this loop for thousands and thousands of years.
What I'm kind of proposing or what I guess we're kind of
getting towards is taking a longrest during that long rest,
coming up with a plan to go downthere and try to save Betsy.

(53:51):
We're just trying to get that science guy with us.
So even if it's like if he's invisible during, you know,
while it's going on. With the 22 for persuasion he he
understands that he could maybe help, but he is still too afraid

(54:15):
that if he dies there is no hopefor Betsy.
That is his concern. Yeah, he was getting honest
about saying that he doesn't care if we die if someone else
comes along. Yeah, and I would even say, like
through the zone of truth and your guys's combined insights
and other things you've done, emotional Steiner Richter Vaum

(54:37):
isn't lying, and he genuinely isafraid that if he dies, all hope
for Betsy is lost and she'll be stuck this way.
Well, why are we fighting so hard to have him come down with
us? So that he can turn the cranks
and do the vials because, like, he's an artificer of a guy
science person, yeah. We don't.

(54:57):
It'll be fine. Thankfully.
We don't have one of those in our party.
Science guy among you. Oh that's right, that's what I
multi classed into. Somebody gagged.
The man does. Anybody else have any clarifying
questions? I know this was role play heavy.
I'm trying to stay in character and only give what's in
character, but for the sake of pacing I want you guys to know

(55:21):
what you need to know for for how to move forward.
Yeah, yeah. So if you guys have.
I'm good with everything though I am pissed you did not let me
do my fun thing. Give me an Arcana attempt.
Give it a try. I just, I wanted to absorb the
lightning. That was all.
That's all I wanted. But it's fine.
It doesn't matter anymore. Give me an arcana Check you put

(55:42):
your hand to the wall to try andabsorb some of the lightning out
of the wall. Give me an arcana.
He killed a dragon. Did it with an advantage because
you suck 26. There's no lightning at all.
It fails. I hate you.
I told you all he's he's the only these days.

(56:03):
Get him. He's very ornery.
Let's go nap somewhere he needs a nap.
You guys are welcome to take a long rest here in the lab.
Yay. All right, yeah, I, I figure
we'd as we'd come up with a gameplan going down there while
we're long resting. OK so the the facts as you know

(56:24):
them and from your continued conversation with both sides of
the artificer is 1/2 of him wants to kill Betsy to free
their souls and he thinks that'sthe only solution because
nothing else has worked. The other version wants to save
her and thinks the contraption in the basement could be changed

(56:45):
in some way or recalibrated in some way to possibly save her.
Now he has said others have diedgoing down there.
He is not convinced that he should go down.
He's asking you. When one side of him is asking
you to go down and literally slay the dragon, the other half

(57:06):
of him is asking you to go down and find a solution to try to
save her. Yes, we are.
We will go down there and try tosave her or die trying.
That is up to you guys. So you are able to take your
long rest. Everybody can hit the long rest
button. You get back your Max HP, get

(57:26):
back your spell slots, get back all of your abilities and rages
and Bartix and everything. Take your long rest.
Damn it. I did.
Why are you all yelling at me? I did.
All right, I even, I even, you know, did some infusion stuff.

(57:47):
Well, let's tell the audience, what did we infuse?
Well, that's the secret for later, isn't it?
I, I suppose during this long rest, while NAR NAR is doing his
science stuff with, with, you know, I'd probably be sitting
there talking or trying to talk with Beppel and.

(58:09):
Talk with Beppel. Yes, Beppel is the name of the
manifest. You know my manifestation was
bark, my echo. Yeah, Beppo.
OK, so you're taking your long. Rest.
Everybody's taking their long rest and you're summoning up
Beppo. Your Echo night.
She's still, she's still there from she's still there.

(58:31):
There's more time. She's kind of been in the
corner, like, you know, picking at her Moss and bark and
whatnot. Kind of like, OK, what do I do?
I'm here. Yeah, yeah.
Nothing, nothing, nothing particular in mind.
It's just that's what I'm doing on my long rest.
I'm communing with bark through beppel.

(58:51):
You know, OK, do you do you ask Beppel something?
So are you bark or? It looks at you and you realize
it has no mouth, it just has bark where it's face would be.
I understand you're so wise. It leans back, kicks its short

(59:12):
and stumpy legs kind of playfully.
All right. Yeah.
Yeah, that's like I said, it wasjust, you know, a thing that
Pebbles doing for her, for her short or long rest.
Yeah, I know. I I was prepared for something
like this. And yeah, there's minimal
communication It, it either mirrors like you do or it kind

(59:33):
of just kind of like meanders and wanders around and seems
like it's looking things, but. It's hard to tell because.
It doesn't have any eyes. I will say the only other thing
that Pebble would do is go and apologize to Narloin for
attacking him during the count fight.
Yeah, let's resolve that. I didn't know anything solving,

(59:54):
I was just apologizing. What is?
No, he's not interested. Hey, I don't know why I did it,
but I think I swung my axes at you and I'm sorry, Narloin.
And Halloween is meditating and does not react.
Oh, fine be. That way and Halloween is
meditate and does not react. He has no idea that Pebble's

(01:00:18):
talking. Pebble stops off.
Would anybody else like to do anything with their time and
their long rest? Nope, no commissions.
Getting some much needed rest After gallivanting around and
slaying witches and getting bit in the neck by vampire, she
needed a long rest. And got it.

(01:00:43):
I can make a vial of acid. You're, you're just going to
make a vial of acid. Do you have the tools and things
that you need to make that? I have my alchemist supplies so
every rest I can just make a vial of acid or a couple other
things like oil. OK, vial of acid.

(01:01:05):
I already have two of my inventory.
Thea and Bragg, anything from the two of you.
Go ahead, Brag. You go. 1st.
I guess I'm going to, I'm assuming Pebble gave me my bag
bag from before. Yes, you did.
I haven't. I'm going to open my bag and ask

(01:01:29):
Poppy and turn off if they can make me an iron mirror.
Yeah, they, they are. And you you reach in, you think
that the request goes through tothem, and then in your hand
materializes a handle and you are able to pull out a iron

(01:01:53):
mirror. But I sent you a private
message. But for everyone else, I guess
I'm going to go to a side of theroom and.
Fun. Yeah, let's do a stealth.
Check that is shit. That's only on 11.
Anybody who has a passive perception above 11 would be

(01:02:16):
able to see that you have snuck off to do something.
It's up to you if you would liketo do it knowing they can see
you. Damn, I got a 12.
I have a 12. I haven't seen you.
We all see you, buddy. Well.
Where you going brag? I got a new spell.

(01:02:37):
I'm just testing it out. I don't don't.
Wander off too far, you'll get lost in this place.
I'm just calling out to an old friend, OK?
And I'm just going to cast a spell to that person and be
like, hey, it's me, hope things are doing good.

(01:02:57):
Got a new spell? Can talk with you now.
That is literally 21 words. That's all I'm going to say.
OK. And I I believe the nature of
this spell is they are able to respond, yes.
In a booming voice, we hear. No, it's in my mind.

(01:03:19):
Yeah. You after a couple of moments
you you hear a startled responsesay new spell who diss.
Then they say kidding, going according to plan, some trouble

(01:03:39):
trying to deal with, and then itcuts off.
That's what I do before I take my long rest, all right?
And then Brad goes to sleep. Yep.
Habble and Babble are curled up,curled up, sleeping.
OK, that's adorable. Yeah, bastard wasted 4 words on

(01:03:59):
new spell. Who Dis.
OK, well you guys get your long rest.
Full Health full. Everything.
You all wake up and there is a calm and collected artificer von
Richtersteiner standing and he'skind of wringing his hands as

(01:04:22):
you are all kind of coming to. And he says, I'm sorry for
everything the five of you have experienced, but I hope that
you'll do the right thing. I, I I hope that you've talked
and all agreed that you will help me put an end to Betsy's
suffering. We'll do the right thing,

(01:04:43):
science guy. We'll do the right thing.
Nicoma snods What? I thought, well, Pebble, when
you say I'll do the right thing,what does that mean to Pebble?
Means that we will do the right.Thing you need you need to tell
me her intent there. Well, he doesn't need to know

(01:05:06):
that she means saving or attempting to save Betsy.
That's why I need a deception check it because he thinks the
right thing is to kill Betsy. And if you're saying you're
going to do the right thing and your intention is to try to save
her, he's going to know that you're not necessarily agreeing
with him. OK, can I do it with advantage?

(01:05:32):
Sure. I was only joking Cheese.
I was expecting a no, you maniac.
OK, really. Mudd is a nice guy.
That's really good because I gota 2 out of 13, so 14.
He's pretty sure you don't know what the plan is.

(01:05:54):
He's probably right. Don't worry, our friend here,
she's our front liner. Yeah.
He he motions to Thea and he says the the one in heavy armor,
right? No, no, no, no.
Stands up straight. Our our fearsome barbarian deer.

(01:06:16):
Big old grin. The one with two giant axes.
Twirls the axes. Well then, best of luck.
I, I hope, I, I hope that you'reable to put an end to this
madness. Let's just say this isn't the
first dragon we've dealt with. I'm oh, you're right.

(01:06:38):
I'm glad to hear that. I guess on your right, I guess
we're going down. OK.
All right. Are you guys saying anything
else or are you going down? I vote.
Let's go down. Yeah, down we go, and as we do,
I pass Bragger near something. How?
How? How far down is it?

(01:07:00):
You open the door and there is only darkness.
OK, so in a wide rickety staircase.
I I animate little brother again.
OK. My homunculus is back for all
who care. Ah, you were able to recreate

(01:07:22):
your homunculus? Excellent.
I had a not small amount of fun killing that thing.
Yeah, I hope your teeth are clean, bastard.
Oh, he's dead now, but Yep. OK.
Anybody doing anything else as you prepare to descend?
Oh, it says as uses druid craft to light a torch.

(01:07:43):
The stairs light up and down below you hear the scraping and
shuffling sounds of something massive moving just beyond the
glimmer of the torchlight. Oh heavens.

(01:08:07):
I am going to go ahead and give a spell to my homunculus to cast
on me, and it's going to be Warding Bond.
OK, You remember Warding Bond? No, I'm going to pretend I
don't. Why don't you read it for the
listeners? This spell wards a willing
creature that you touch, and my homunculus can cast a touch

(01:08:27):
spell for me. So it's going to be from the
homunculus on to me, and while the target is within 60 feet, it
gains a + 1 to AC and saving throws and has resistance to all
damage. Each time it takes damage, the
homunculus will take damage. Yeah, and I'm going to do
something to. What are we doing?

(01:08:49):
I'm going to cast false life on my myself OK and being a warlock
I can do it at will without expending a spell slot and I get
Max number like highest number on the die.
Fantastic. Yeah.
Any other preparatory spells as you all stand at the top of the
stairs that leads to the basement?

(01:09:12):
I already have I already have beppel out, so I suppose what I
would probably do is click my hand axes to activate them.
I'm going to. I'm going to cast the heroism on
everyone. OK.
But it only lasts for a minute, so we have to run down you guys.

(01:09:37):
Yeah. So you can kind of say like,
hey, like I'm going to cast this.
And once I do like it's, it's gotime like we got to move.
Yeah, I suppose that's, you know, holding my thing to right
before we like get started, I'llclick my axes because they are
only one minute does. Anyone else have heroism?
I do OK because I want to. I want to make sure.

(01:10:01):
I don't remember what that does if.
You my heroism is only for one person so willing creature you
touches and beautiful bravery. Damn, it's one person per level.
There's what, five of us? For.
Yeah, five of us 5. But I wasn't really looking at
burn on spell slot. Oh, it's not like we're going

(01:10:22):
into a fight. We're going down there to talk
to it. What does it do again?
Willing creature you touch is immutable bravery.
Until the spell ends, you're immune to being frightened and
game time pit points equal to spell casting ability modifier
at the start of each turn, so temporary hit points and
immunity to fear. And you're doing that for
everybody. You I can't do it for everybody.

(01:10:46):
Oh, OK. Sorry, I need to know who you're
doing it for. You should probably I'm going to
do it. I'm going to do it third level
me Pebble and it's the the frontliners and me because I'm
maintaining the spell. I think you should give give
some maybe Nicomas the healer. I already have 12 hit temporary

(01:11:06):
points. Right, but you're the front
liner. OK.
So that gives you 4 per turn. You're going to have four
temporary hit points, and you get another 4 every time.
Yeah, I guess I'm going to fuck it.
I'll go ahead and yeah, I'll do the heroism on the homunculus
because it's got baby hit points.

(01:11:26):
I'm just writing it down so I don't forget and ask again.
Yep. Cornucomis.
I'm fine, I can castle myself. Any so keep track everybody, of
what spells you cast and what you have cast on you because it
could matter. Well, I am, yeah.

(01:11:47):
I'm holding. I'm holding off on actually
activating until combat actuallystarts.
We're I'm just going to base under the assumption that you
guys are at the top of the stairs ready to move down into
the basement. Yeah, the way I figure is
because it's kind of us walking down.
Yep. Yeah.
We're we're, we're kind of head heading down, I guess as we do

(01:12:08):
this. Yep, you.
All. Begin down the stairs, casting
your spells on yourselves and each other.
The stairs groan and creak loudly beneath your feet, and
you hear a scraping and shuffling sound, and as the
stairs creak between the torch light and nobody choosing to

(01:12:33):
stealth, you all get down to thelanding at the bottom in the
basement, and you are in a wide expanse of a destroyed
laboratory. And in front of all of you is
the upper body, everything but the legs of a gargantuan bone

(01:12:58):
dragon with wispy ectoplasmic wisps swirling around it.
And it has dark blue glowing eyes.
And as you reach the bottom of the stairs, it opens its mouth,
roaring at the five of you, winged talons scratching into

(01:13:23):
the ground as it rotates where it sits in the middle of the
room. And could everybody please roll
initiative and launch the map? That's a 13.
Am I? Always the worst on Initiatives

(01:13:44):
11. I got a 5.
I got a 5/2. Yeah, I got a four, it says.
I got a three. I got a four.
Wow, Bragrenier, you are first. Oh great. 14. 13.
And so we're all last. That may have been some of the

(01:14:09):
worst initiatives. Pirate 11. 3 to 5, Pebble 5.
No, I got I got 4/4. Sorry.
OK, I got a four in a coma scan 3.
OK. You can edit that out.
We can just. Yeah, we can just re roll, it's
all right. Y'all just came back from a

(01:14:31):
bathroom break. What did we do?
I want to see the map. Is it just a head?
The OK, so our listeners cannot see the map, so I'm going to
continue to describe it. There is a destroyed laboratory
in front of you all, and in the center of the room is the

(01:14:52):
gargantuan upper body of Betsy the Dragon.
You you can see the whole upper body, and all that's not present
are the legs which extend down through the basement and as you
saw when you first encountered the house, is the legs that are
running around on the mortal plane.

(01:15:13):
There are broken tables and broken contraptions in every
direction, and as you are looking around you can see a
number of arcane conduits are still generating and still
spinning arcane electricity spiraling around them.
And in the torchlight you can see there is something to the

(01:15:34):
left. Of the stairs.
And the room itself is in kind of AU shape, not quite a perfect
U, but there are some extended corridors down and left and down
and right. However, could everybody please
give me nature checks? Naturally, of course. 17.

(01:15:55):
None. That's a Nat 20, good Sir.
That's a Nat 20. OK, what's the nature?
Beat the durated. Mine don't matter.
I got any Pebble as the the frontline barbarian, you're
looking at this gargantuan dragon, so the map I created is

(01:16:20):
mostly just a visual aid. Remember that the dragon
occupies most of this room. It is gargantuan.
It is huge. The room itself is about 80 feet
by 80 feet at its longest and widest points and Pebble with a

(01:16:41):
net 20. You know that there is not an
inch of this room that that thing cannot reach with its
claws. Hey guys, watch out for its
claws. I don't.
I think it's big enough to even scratch the corners and get the
mouse holes. With that, you guys aren't going
to believe this Betsy rolled higher than all of you, no.

(01:17:09):
What a bunch. Of.
The GM. Is cheating the the we?
Are slower than a bag of bones, you guys.
I love it. I love it.
OK, we're we're going to start this shindig and I would like
everyone who had heroism cast onthem to raise their hand.

(01:17:30):
Basically. Is it me?
Pebble, Me. Pebble the and then then the
homogeneous. OK, so Betsy roars, And in its
gargantuan size and necrotic nature, everybody has to make

(01:17:52):
some DC-16 Wisdom saving throws or become frightened for one
minute. However, all of us heroism, you
are fucking immune to the frightcondition.
So if you do not have heroism, Ineed a Wisdom saving throw
please. Mud you sound like.

(01:18:14):
I rolled A9, I did not save myself.
I have a 20 3020. OK.
NAR Louine, you save Nikomis. Sorry, I ever want to get some
+2 from Thea for all saving throws, correct?
Yes. OK.
But it don't help Nikomis. I'm afraid that that does not

(01:18:37):
save Nikomis. So Nikomis, you are the only one
frightened. So you do have you can reattempt
this. At the end of your turn, you can
attempt a save again to end the scare the frightened condition.
What was the DC? It was DC-16.

(01:18:57):
OK, nevermind. So with Frightened Nokomis, you
cannot move closer to the thing that is scaring you, and you
have disadvantage on ability checks and attack rolls while
the source of your fear is within your line of sight.

(01:19:17):
OK, I'm so afraid. And Nikomas, you notice as you
come in through the back and this thing roars at the five of
you and this fear grips your chest.
You just go cold in a sweat. You hear the door slam shut
behind you and you hear a loud thunking click as the door is

(01:19:39):
locked and barricaded behind you.
Oh, that's son of a matching. And you hear a voice on the side
of the door say, I believe in you.
You can end this. You're a coward.
We're going to save. Her.
I can't hear you. What?
Why'd you reply? All right.
The dragon is going to make some.

(01:19:59):
Attacks. I would like you guys because
you had time to prepare. As you were coming down the
stairs, who was taking the lead?I would say, I would say I was
with rage and everything because, you know, it's just
smart. Yep.
A little. Brother would have been up front
too. OK.

(01:20:21):
It's probably Pebbles, the slightly behind and then
homunculus like kind of floatingthe flitting around the room and
the seal defender coming in behind Pebble and little
brother. I don't know what what that
thing that stick does. Thank you, Spike.
No, yeah, you don't know the steel defender or your little

(01:20:44):
brother. It's not.
I do, I do. I just wasn't sure if Pebble was
picking her teeth with it. It's alive.
I'm aware, never stopped Pebble before.
And stopped me before, you know,Yeah.
Hebble would be using her spare finger for that.
OK, my nose sticker. So I'm just getting your guys's

(01:21:07):
way too many familiars. So we've got the steel defender
was also kind of in front of at least Unicomus.
You're Hermunculus is spinning around and the little brother,
the antenna that was the mosquito God you guys defeated

(01:21:28):
in episode 0 that is also floating around.
There it is. I'm just going to say it's
floating next to you. Brag.
OK, so are we all in agreement coming down the stairs?
Pebble and Thea are in the lead.Yes.
Pebble, I don't know if I heard you say that you were going into

(01:21:50):
a rage. Did you go into?
A rage? I didn't say that.
OK. Just I'm just making sure I
might. I was just a lot of things.
It's all defensive. It's all defensive, you know.
OK, it is going to make its first attack at you, Pebble.
As that giant head on this elongated skeletal neck reaches

(01:22:12):
and snaps forward, Pebble does adirty 20 hit.
Just barely. I mean, yeah, it does.
I forget how unarmored Pebble is.
So that is 16 points of piercingdamage cut in half to 8, and
eight points of necrotic damage,which I believe you're also

(01:22:36):
resistant to, so that would be cut to 4.
You all watch as this mouth snaps, biting at Pebble, nearly
engulfing her, and then these winged claws come forward,
slashing and raking forward. Thea does a 15 hit.
No. He literally rolled A4 so

(01:22:59):
attacks a second time with his claws, does a 26 hit.
No. Yeah, you take 13 points of
slashing damage as one of these claws catches you slashing at

(01:23:21):
our kitsune friend, and it then is going to use its first breath
attack, which is going to hit everybody on the stairs because
it went. First could everybody?
Roll me Dexterity saving throws as you watch.

(01:23:44):
After it bites at Pebble, it rears its head back and you feel
Arcanic energy building up in the back of its throat 22. 17.
3020, good Sir. OK, save.
That's 15. Who saved with so many guys?

(01:24:07):
What is my calculator? What?
Was. This what was it?
DCI did not hear it. It was DC-18.
Well, I. Damn it.
Who failed fighting a gargantuan?
Drake, I failed by one. I'm 17.
As the dress. No, no, Gomez, you saved.
Lunges and. +2. Sorry, Yep, you you have that

(01:24:30):
bonus to your saves. And bragging.
You can have my slash genius. However, at comas I don't know
if you did it. You do have disadvantage on this
check because you are scared. Oh, that I did not.
I got a 2 so I guess that that'sthe idea on that one on the 2nd
row. You guys watch as Betsy roars

(01:24:56):
and our conic energy pours from her mouth.
What would you guys expect a a ghostly bone Dragon's breath to
be? Nasty smelling.
Like blue fire? Juice, yeah, I expect like Ross
oars are dust, personally. These are all great, great

(01:25:16):
guesses, but it's none of those spiders pour out of its mouth.
It has. My headsets off now, goodbye.
It has spider breath. I can't speak with animals.
All of you. Are coming.
Here, we ain't going on that route again.
Bill, all of you. In spiders.

(01:25:37):
What is? With your Dragons and spiders.
Darling, can you fireball me please?
From head to no Netcomus is covered in tiny, teeny, tiny,
crawling, creeping, biting spiders.
Yeah, me too. Anybody who failed, you take 47

(01:25:57):
points of damage. How much did you I'm.
Down. I got 11.
If you saved, you take 24 pointsof damage.
Can I can I give a bardif Chihuahua?
Is it your turn? Is it a reaction?

(01:26:19):
Bardic. Yeah, but there's only a chance
that I'm going to be able to. Pass bonus action.
I'm afraid not. You said 47.
And I know the outcome 20. Seven say that you went down.
Yes I went down probably a 45 Max health Jesus.
Christ. You guys watch a swarm of

(01:26:40):
spiders covers Nikomas. Nikomas screams once and spiders
pour into her mouth and she can't even get the scream out
and collapses to the ground. And that is where we will end
our session. That sound disgusting.
You said 24 for half damage, right?
All righty everybody, Editor Yamez here thanking you for

(01:27:05):
checking out D&D 721. This was a very fun episode.
This entire session was way too long to fit into one episode, so
I am cutting it, not even in half, just kind of splitting it
from, you know, the first part with the discussions with Doctor
Richterstein and the start of the fight with the dragon.

(01:27:28):
We split it and you can't do anything about it.
Anyway, the players wish that they could be here.
They, they love this episode as well.
You'll get their full reactions at the end of the next episode.
Anyway, thank you all for listening to DND 721 and The RIP
of Chaos. Please check out some of our

(01:27:49):
other episodes. The arena battles, the
Barkoshi's campaign, Shards of the Fallen Flame and it's
battlefield stuff and MUD has these upcoming events in the
community called Come As You Are.
So join our telegram and our discord and and get involved

(01:28:10):
with the community. You can find a lot of our links,
or all of our links rather on d&d721.com where you can also
mint an NFT to join in the fun and check out what we are all
about. Come on in and grab a seat,
We're glad to have you. Thank you all.
Bye now, Lightning. Remembers what the living

(01:28:37):
forgive the soul is told. 2 voices circle the same ground.
One to kill, 1 to mourn. I measure the hour with the

(01:29:09):
numbers. Like this house is a dream where
the ears don't die. Her soul is fractured, bound in
bone. A mercy blade will send her
home. My calculate price.
I know the cost to free her spirit.

(01:29:30):
She must be lost. No.
Hold your blade. I feel her brain head in every
trembling ball beneath. She calls to me from under
stone. She's hurt, not gone.
She's not alone. The fight and find the spark we

(01:29:52):
miss. I can pull her back from the
pits and then hold on. Please break the vow.
Still hears me. Mercy, your deliverance.

(01:30:19):
Only one will set a free nobody that cannot arrest.
Two hearts crushed inside the same chest. 1 cries for mercy,
one fights for breath. Two eyes, one curse.
Choosing life or choosing death.Performance twisted the Dragon's

(01:30:44):
frame. Lightning stole her sacred name.
The ritual failed. The bond is wrong.
Suffering has gone on too long. We pain, We cleanse the blind
eye and the shadow with the righteous strike.

(01:31:06):
You blind yourself with measuredfear.
But love is louder than what youhear.
If lightning failed, I'll try again.
I won't lose you twice. I won't say you when the bones
remember every fall and won't break them, not now.

(01:31:35):
Cut the thread then. The sea dream time has
swallowed. What remains?
What the voice says. Still can't.

(01:31:57):
Be two minds in a body trapped by faith 2 hearts are behind the
same gate 1 scene and thing one begs to revive 2 minds one curse
who designed to survive slowly and she still feels.

(01:32:32):
Mercy's blame Mercy 's life. Let her fade, don't let her die.
Lightning binds lightning. Brace what the soul refuses, the
body remains. 2 lines in a stormwithout a shock. 2 hearts

(01:32:55):
beating war against swarm. 1 whispers and 1 cries old fast. 2
lines. One curse and the curse will now
last. The house walks on the dragon
sleeves low endure Dune runs deep my circle same remorse want

(01:33:22):
to kill 1 to save. Bound forever to the curse.