The party walks into the Bone Whale's pool of doom. Will they take down the skeletal monster and make it out alive? Inara pops in. Tracey needs a hand. Johnny sees the light.
We are sponsored this week by 20 Sided Store in Brooklyn, NY. Check out their inventory and events at twentysidedstore.com, and use code JOINTHEPARTY for 20% off your online or in-person order!
Find Us Online
- website: jointhepartypod.com
- patreon: patreon.com/jointhepartypod
- twitter: twitter.com/jointhepartypod
- facebook: facebook.com/jointhepartypod
- instagram: instagram.com/jointhepartypod
- tumblr: jointhepartypod.tumblr.com
- merch: jointhepartypod.com/merch
- multitude: multitude.productions
Cast & Crew
- Dungeon Master: Eric Silver
- TR8c (Tracey): Brandon Grugle
- Inara Harthorn: Amanda McLoughlin
- Johnny B. Goodlight: Michael Fische
- Creative Contributors: Connor McLoughlin, Julia Schifini, Heddy Hunt
Transcript
Amanda: Last time on Join the Party.
Eric: Johnny, Tracey and Inara travel back across the river into the Antipolis ruins. Alonzo stumbles across some discarded arrows in an abandoned building, and Johnny gives some good advice…?
Michael (as Johnny): Hey Alonzo, I wouldn't use the fourth and fifth arrow in that quiver.
Eric: Okay, make that a fictional threat to keep him in line. When the party runs into Zubi the stone giant, Inara remembers she has a mind reading potion in her pack, and uses it to see directly into Zubi’s swirling mind.
Eric (as Zubi): Well, what, I can touch is real. Climb aboard, little dream.
Eric: The giant points them in the direction of his home in the center of the city, which the Bone Whale flooded, and now resides. Inside the cave, the party activated the giant’s security system, a weird sticky ooze heading right for them.
Amanda (as Inara): We're ok Evan, don't worry!
Brandon (as Tracey): I mean worry a little bit! We’re stuck!
Eric: One giant task down, another giant task to go. Let’s get the party started.
[theme music]
Eric: Leeeeeeet's roll initiative.
Brandon: Uh, Eric, I'm actually scared to release this dice right now
Amanda: Well I just got a 19, so-
Eric: Ay!
Michael: Did you include your Initiative?
Amanda: No. What is that?
Michael: Because I got when I rolled a 19, but I got a plus 3 so...
Amanda: [gasps] 22! Cute, dad!
Michael: 22! We are feeling 22 right now!
Amanda: We are feeling 22.
Michael: Oh, we are feeling 22.
Eric: You both got 22?
Brandon: You know I’m gonna mess this up, right?
Michael: Tracey with a 1, let’s see it.
Amanda: Lets go son
[dice rolling]
Brandon: OOOOOOO
Michael: NAT 20!!!!
Brandon: This is a great start!
Michael: Very good job team. This will be the only time we all roll well… ever.
Amanda: This whole episode.
Brandon: Well yeah, we are going to go downhill from here.
Amanda: Totally squandered it.
[dripping water echoing through the cave, the characters’ voices echoing when they speak]
Eric: Alright, where we left off, Johnny is covering Alonzo with Blade Ward and I assume just like your cloak is just like over the top of him?
Michael: Yep, and sigils are dancing around me to protect from the absolutely nothing.
Eric: Tracey is also standing by after he tried to grappling hook himself up. Inara is ten feet up on the ledge, which is heading further into Zubi's cave, and there is a black, viscous, gross, disgusting thing heading right towards all three of you. All right, Tracey with your only nat-20 you're going to roll today, what you want to do?
Brandon: Thanks for the confidence boost DM.
Eric: Eh, I just believe in math…
Brandon: I'm going to throw a rope up to Inara, hopefully have her catch it, and then help everyone else up the rope.
Eric: Which of your seven ropes, apparently which you have, are you going to use?
Brandon: Number four is the most steadfast one. So, I'm going to use that one.
[dice rolling]
Eric: That's the one which is just a series of handkerchiefs like you're a magician?
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: Ok cool.
Brandon: It comes out of my sleeve.
[Brandon and Amanda giggling]
Eric: Alright, you throw your handkerchief rope up to Inara, and I would say it's pretty easy you can grab that out of the air.
Amanda: Cool.
Eric: Sweet.
Michael: I'm going to push Alonzo up the rope to make sure he can go up the rope.
Eric: Sure, Inara make a strength check just to hold all this biz.
Amanda: Sure.
[dice rolling]
Amanda: 19. 0 modifier. So 19.
Eric: Ay! Alonzo, clumsy like the kid who failed out a gym that he is, very slowly shimmies himself up the rope.
Amanda: And I'll make sure to take his hand and help him get up onto the ledge so he doesn't foil it at the last minute and fall down.
Eric: Oh yeah, he throws his whole weight against you and he's like
Eric (as Alonzo): Eh It was really hard. I'm sweating through my doublet.
Amanda: Great, so I'm gonna push him back and have him just stand with his back to the wall about six feet from the ledge, because I don't want him to fall.
Eric: Cool.
Michael: I mean I'll climb up right after him, and I don't need help going up there, I just do.
Eric: You’re a workman walking up the rope
Michael: You know me with my... rope skills. It be done!
Eric: Okay, cool. It is now Alonzo's turn. Alonzo is watching the ooze like glomp its way towards you, and it's like oozing, and just like pussing and it's disgusting. So, he takes the bow and arrow off of his back and he nocks an arrow.
Michael: I whisper to Alonzo
Michael (as Johnny): Make sure it's not the fourth or the fifth.
[dice rolling]
Eric: Yeah, he pulls the fifth arrow out. He’s like
Eric (as Alonzo): I'm going to do it anyway. It's going to mess him up!
Eric: He nocks the arrow, and pulls back and he lets it fly.
[arrow released]
As the arrow flies through the air, the arrow starts to glow. This is a different color that is glowed before. The medallion glows a bright light, but this one is glowing a goldish color. And as the arrow flies through the air, it's almost like it's taking some of the space behind it. It's like there's a wake. He's creating a wake of just like time and energy as it flies through the air and the arrow lands right in the middle of the gross ooze, and nothing happens for a second. And it's like someone pulled the drain out of a bathtub. The ooze just goes spiraling into a point in the middle of it, and disappears. And Alonzo says.
Michael (as Johnny): I told you not to use it.
Eric (as Alonzo): How, that's a cursed arrow! That was actually a cursed arrow?
Michael (as Johnny): I told you not to use it Alonzo.
Eric (as Alonzo): I mean it's gone. That's pretty tight I guess.
Brandon: Tracey is flabbergasted.
Amanda: So is Inara. I’m just standing with my hands on my hips, looking at Alonzo with like the highest eyebrows I can possibly muster.
Michael: I'm too deep in this lie, so I'm acting as if I knew this was happening the whole time.
Eric: Can you make a Deception?
[dice rolling]
Michael: 22.
Eric: Oh yeah. If you continue to tell them that arrows cursed, it's cursed.
Michael (as Johnny): Alonzo if you're going to keep wasting those cursed arrows like that, maybe you should give it to someone else.
Eric (as Alonzo): No no. These are mine. I called dibs, I got it. I want to do stuff. I mean look I sent that thing away!
Amanda: Alonzo why don't you just keep your eyes out. That was pretty dope. I'm not going to lie.
Eric (as Alonzo): Thank you. How does no one else think that's dope as hell?
Brandon (as Tracey): I think it’s pretty dope too!
Eric (as Alonzo): See, 2 out of 3 ain't bad I'll take it. Two out of three adventurers think it's dope.
Michael: Johnny motions Alonzo over to help us hold the rope up as Tracey-
Brandon (as Tracey): Guy's I’m coming!
[all laughing]
Michael: -scrambles up the napkin rope.
Brandon: The handkerchief rope.
Eric: The handkerchief rope.
Brandon: As I'm going up the rope, the rope end is going back into my sleeve.
Michael: Oh, nice.
Eric: Oh, I like that. All right Tracey you want to do anything while you’re in here?
Brandon: I want to pat everyone on the back and say
Brandon (as Tracey): Great job team.
Eric: Cool.
Michael: We all go in hands-in and go-
Brandon (as Tracey): Three, two, one-
Michael: We don’t have an adventure team name.
Eric (as Alonzo): Captain Planet!
Amanda: We don't have an adventure team name.
Michael: That’s like a major faux pas.
Brandon: We don’t.
Amanda: Defenders of the realm?
Michael: Eh.
Brandon: Uh…
Amanda: Defenders, no, I don’t like it, I take it back. We will workshop it as we-
Brandon: Oo-ooze folks.
Michael: Nope.
[all laughing]
Eric: Ooze folks it is!
Michael: Lightbringers!
Eric: Johnny and his friends!
Amanda: Johnny and the Lightbringers!
Michael: Johnny and the Lightbringers.
Eric: So, I think it’s
Eric (as Alonzo): So, Alonzo and Pals! How's that?
All: No.
Brandon (as Tracey): I don’t think so.
Eric (as Alonzo): The Champion and his Security.
All: No
Amanda: Alonzo is my client, not my pal.
Brandon: Alonzo and the clients!
Eric (as Alonzo): Alonzo and the clients! That was my band name in high school. Magic high school.
Amanda: I got it, the Jailbirds.
Brandon: Jailbirds is pretty good. I like this a lot
Michael: Yeah that’s pretty. good
Eric: Ok you three jailbirds and Alonzo. Okay, yeah I like it!
Michael: We put our hands in and go
Michael (as Johnny): Jailbirds!
Eric (as Alonzo): Wait, I was never... I wasn't in jail.
Amanda (as Inara): Let's go Alonzo!
Eric: As you guys have had this fun goodtime friendship, all four of you hear a poof
[whooshing sound]
Eric: And you look back over the lip, and ooze is back. It just popped right back into the same place where you left it, and now still undulating and oozing and being gross.
Michael: And what about the arrow?
Eric: Yeah, the arrow is stuck right in the middle of it.
Brandon (as Tracey): Well, didn't do that great of a job.
Amanda (as Inara): Uh, let's just keep going.
Eric: The black ooze just like bubbling and gurgling and being gross but you guys can, all four of you can just - running away?
Michael: I mean, we're not running we are confidently walking.
Eric: You are confidently walking away.
Amanda: Striding purposefully.
Brandon: Confidently running as fast as I can.
[Eric chuckles]
Eric: This cave is pretty long. The tunnel’s like about a thousand feet long, and it is pretty dark. The Dancing Lights are giving you some sort of illumination, even in the darkness. Everyone make a perception check.
[dice rolling]
Michael: I got a very solid 21.
Amanda: Got a 9.
Brandon: 14 + 2 for a 16.
Eric: Inara, Alonzo's shoes are untied.
Amanda: I'm gonna laugh a little bit.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: Johnny and Tracey, you see on the walls around you from the illumination of the Dancing Lights. Tracey, these are the same carvings that you've noticed all over the previous city. These are like pictograms that you can't read, and are in some sort of strange language.
Michael: Now, Eric?
Eric: Yeah.
Michael: I seem to have the ability to read anything.
Eric: No, I understand that.
Michael: Using the Eyes of the Rune Keeper invocation as a Warlock. And I perchance perhaps may be interested in reading these, finally. Since I haven’t expressed an interest before [laughing]
Eric: No, well now you have things to read! Okay, so on your left there is one particular thread of a story, and you can read the first bit of it as it goes up the wall: Once there was a giant who hid all of his food in case there was a famine. They wanted to make sure that they could find their food again when the famine hit. So, they wrote all of the words they knew in a row on a wall. Beast. Meat. Barrel. Stone. Fist. And these words continue up, and up, and up, about 20 feet in the air and it ends at a lip of something carved into the wall.
Brandon (as Tracey): Hey Johnny are you getting, are you getting any of this?
Michael: I share this information with the group. What do we see further down in the hall?
Eric: Sure, there is an archway right in the middle, and it is carved directly into the stone similar to the two trapdoors with the boulder coming out, and this door which had the one boulder but then you can continue through.
Michael: Any writing on it?
Eric: Yeah actually it's kind of funny you see this list of words continues down the rest of the corridor and then around the archway.
Amanda: Is it like a Candyland board that leads up there and then down, or it's just like there's words everywhere including a stream?
Eric: It is exactly like Candyland board. This writing is about right in the middle of this thousand-foot cavern, and as you look back, you hear the burbling and the gulping and the disgusting sounds of the ooze, which has now shimmied its way up the stone wall and is now slowly oozing towards you.
Michael: So, it's about 500 feet away.
Eric: It is five hundred feet away now, but now it is now oozed it's the way of this sheer cliff and is now bubbling at you.
Michael: I say good for it-
Brandon: Gross.
Michael: it's taking its time, good for it-
Brandon: Gross.
Michael: Like eventually it might reach us, but for now it's okay, good for it.
Brandon: Gross.
Amanda (as Inara): All right Johnny why don't you keep an eye on that, Tracey, uh-
Amanda: Inara shrugs off her pack
Amanda (as Inara): Trace can you, can you just give me a little boost here?
Brandon (as Tracey): Yeah.
Brandon: And I put my hands out like a platform and take her foot.
Amanda: Yeah, I'm going to step into it, put my hand on your head and...
Brandon (as Tracey): That's my eyeball!
Amanda: No, it's not. It’s the top of your head!
Amanda (as Inara): Oh, okay, I’ll- I’ll- Ready? So, on three, you're gonna- you're gonna toss me into the air. Ready?
Brandon (as Tracey): Got it.
Amanda (as Inara): Okay. And when I fall back down, try to catch me.
Brandon (as Tracey): Cat-catch you. Well I will catch you, but yes.
Amanda (as Inara): All right. Ready?
Brandon (as Tracey): Ready.
Both: One, two, three.
Brandon (as Tracey): Four?
Brandon: And I throw her up.
Eric: On four? Great.
Amanda: You are compromising my-
Eric: Okay, Inara you have disadvantage on Acrobatics, and Tracey are going to make a Strength check.
[dice rolling]
Amanda: 14 + 6 for a non-natural 20.
Eric: Okay.
Brandon: 6 + 3 for a 9.
Eric: Phew, okay, so even with the uncoordinated try that you all did, Tracey you fling her just about 10 feet, and Inara with your deft hands, you grab yourself against this lip and you pull yourself up.
Brandon (as Tracey): Sorry! Sorry Inara!
Amanda: I ignore him and try to perceive whatever is around me using the light of the Dancing Lights globe.
Eric: Alonzo turns to Tracey and says
Eric (as Alonzo): You can count to three, right?
Brandon (as Tracey): Alonzo, do you really want to have this conversation right now?
Amanda (as Inara): Guys keep an eye on the ooze down there.
Eric: Yeah, the ooze is now 450 feet away.
Michael (as Johnny): Okay, listen, if we can just keep moving, that ooze will never reach us.
Amanda: Like the slow creep of death, we're going to stay just ahead of it.
Michael (as Johnny): We'll be in Fidapolis by the time it gets to the other side of this cavern.
Eric: Okay Inara, up there you see another statue like the ones that you've seen before. This one has regular sized arms, legs. Regular looking humanoid, except it is bent in a 90-degree angle like it is doing the limbo.
Amanda: Okay.
Eric: Like at the knees just totally backwards.
Amanda: That is super creepy. And Inara doesn't know the limbo. So, I'm going to shout down
Amanda (as Inara): Uh, guys, there’s a statue up here with a person bending really weird, like like the wind blew them over, but only at the knees.
Amanda: Is that all that's up there?
Eric: Well it is on a pedestal like the one before.
Amanda: And the words, the Candyland trail, does it continue like around the cavern and back down?
Eric: Yes.
Amanda: Okay.
Eric: This ooze is 400 feet away.
Amanda (as Inara): What should I do guys?
Brandon (as Tracey): Pick it up. I mean they're nice statues we can use them to decorate later.
Amanda (as Inara): It's just gonna make bad things happen.
Brandon (as Tracey): I think if we don't do it we're going to risk like not knowing the bad things that are going to happen. At least we will see it.
Eric: The ooze is 350 feet away
Michael (as Johnny): The speed of this ooze is troubling.
Brandon (as Tracey): In order to get through the first door, we had to lift the statue so we're going to have to-
Amanda (as Inara): Tracey hold out your cape get ready to catch me.
Brandon (as Tracey): I'm ready.
Amanda (as Inara): You sure?
Brandon (as Tracey): I'm sure
Brandon: And I hold out my cape
Amanda (as Inara): Devar damn it.
Amanda: I'm going to grab the statue and then jump swan dive style down to Tracey.
Eric: Tracey, let's make a Dexterity roll.
Amanda: I think I made the wrong decision.
[dice rolling]
Brandon: You did not. 14 + 1 for 15.
Eric: Ah good, Inara you just-
Amanda: Glad I didn’t die!
Eric: You just belly flop right into the loving arms of this cape.
Amanda: Great.
Eric: And you are cradled like a kitten jumping from a high tree.
Brandon (as Tracey): I wrap her and give her an embrace and then let her go.
Amanda (as Inara): Tracey-Trace- we gotta go y’all.
Brandon (as Tracey): No time for hugs?
Michael: So I would suggest-
Amanda (as Inara): Hugs are for winners, Tracey.
[all laugh]
Brandon: Did anything happen with the archway when we move the statue?
Eric: Right. So, well first of all the ooze is 150 feet away. Inara as you land in Tracey's cape bassinet-.
Amanda: I prefer to think of it as a hammock, but continue.
Brandon: I do too.
Eric: As you land Tracey's cape hammock and then you get swaddled like a little baby. The archway starts to rumble
[low rumbling sound]
Eric: And a stone wall starts to come down that front archway.
Michael: So, let's all start dashing.
Amanda: Let's all dash forward.
Brandon: Yep, and I'm going to use my Fast Movement.
Eric: What does that mean?
Brandon: I get plus 10 to my movement.
Eric: Oh. Tight.
Michael: Oh, wait also I want Alonzo in front of me at all times.
[Eric laughing]
Eric: Tight, tight, tight, tight, tight. Okay good to know.
Amanda: Yeah if I manage to tumble under the door, I'm going to immediately look back to see if I can pull someone else through.
Eric: Great.
Michael: I'm going to send one of the lights up on the other side of the door so that there's light on the other side.
Eric: Cool.
Brandon: So, if I get there first I'm going to stick the statue I've been holding like right underneath the door, and then I'm going to try to actually hold it a little bit.
Eric: Great. So, let's all make your rolls for these things.
Brandon: I'm using Strength for that?
[dice rolling]
Eric: You’re gonna use Strength.
Amanda: 7 + 6 is 23.
Michael: I got a solid 5. I should probably have persuaded this door to not fall.
Eric: Yeah, that would have been better.
Michael: I would have gotten a 10.
Eric: Do Performance, and then you just dance so well the wall’s like “Wow!”
Tracey what did you get?
Brandon: 12 + 3 for 15.
Eric: Okay, Alonzo got a 11. So, here's the thing. You guys made quick work of everything. Tracey and Inara, you make it through the door really easily. I mean you guys have still have like half way to go, really. This is moving pretty slow, and you don't have to limbo, and you guys are relatively small for the doorway in which you have to do stuff. You also are putting the statue down correct?
Brandon: Yes.
Eric: Okay cool. So, you’re gonna put the statue down to the bottom to try to hold it. Tracey, valiant. It looks really cool when you do it. But this thing is just pressing down on you. You cannot push against this thing.
Brandon: Got it.
Eric: But it looked really cool if someone was looking at it like, “Oh look at that robot man trying to save all these kids!”
Michael: Who is this person? Who is this unseen observer? What is their name canonically?
Eric: His name is Steven. He really likes fantasy movies, and he's like, “Wow this robot man is really doing a really good job I love this podcast.”
Johnny, you hang back to try to make sure Alonzo gets through the door.
Michael: Yup.
Eric: And Alonzo just is much faster than you assume, but he actually like outruns you, and you try to like grab his hand and pull him but like he's outrunning you.
Michael: Great. Love it.
Eric: And you get kind of more distracted by Alonzo making sure what he's doing than paying attention to where the door is-
Michael: Sure.
Eric: And you just run right into the door. At this point it is like at face height for you, and you run smack into it and you fall prone.
[dice rolling]
Michael: And then I will crab walk my way under it.
Eric: Sure, you take 5 damage.
Michael: Okay well...
Amanda: I'm going to pull at his ankle.
Brandon: Yeah, I think I would do the same thing.
Eric: And everyone slides under the door.
Amanda: What's the ooze situation. Is there a risk of it getting under the door?
Eric: Yeah. Thank you. Good question. The ooze is just kind of all like shambling forward. The door is locked on top of the statue that Tracey put under the door.
Amanda (as Inara): Tracey grab it!
Eric: The ooze is about 50 feet away and you could actually see that the ooze is starting to flatten itself down.
Brandon: Tracey is going to dash for the statue, and try to rip it out from underneath the door.
Eric: Okay Strength then.
Brandon: 15 + 3 for 18.
Eric: As I said before, the door is coming down with a whole lot of force and it is pressing directly down on the top of the statue. You try to pull at it once from the top and it just doesn't budge. But you take a second attempt as the ooze is getting closer, and closer, and closer. You pull from the bottom that time, and the force from the bottom tips it over and you are able to grab the statue as the door starts to level down.
And you know what? Surprisingly oozes- really bad dexterity.
[dice rolling]
The ooze just kind of like slaps itself against the door, and you hear just like the sound of someone throwing a watermelon at a door. All four of you are slumped down against the stone door breathing heavily after you dashed your way under the door.
Michael: I'm going to reposition my lights. Listen. Light situation. V important for me at all times. I have two over us and two ahead of us.
Eric: So, Johnny that's interesting that you say that. As you move the two Dancing Lights around the room, you realize that these Dancing Lights aren't the only lights horse in this cavern.
Michael: I'm all about this. I'm a fan.
Eric: Yeah, there is a flame, there is a fire right in the center of this room. And as you look closer, you realize that the fire is in the shape of a sword, and it's illuminating your half dead friend, Jamie. But it looks like he can't really move at all. There's like a cage or something surrounding him that he's like banging his fists and the sword against. As the lights get closer to him, it illuminates that that cage is a rib cage that expands out. And he is inside of the Bone Whale.
[deep, echoing musical interlude]
Eric: Hey, it’s Eric. Have one of your close friends ever gone away on a long trip? And it’s been so strange without them there, a person-sized hole in your daily life. Finally, they come back, and you’re so happy to see them, and they brought you a little gift back with them. And it’s not that you’re getting a present, but that, for a few minutes on vacation, they thought of you and brought you a physical manifestation of that moment. This is that present. Welcome to the midroll. It’s a tiny snowglobe!
Welcome to the party to our newest patreons Liam, Emily, Roy (a new VIP), Sara, Eli and Sean, and Marco. And thank you to Candice and Thomas who raised their pledges! You are the wind beneath our wings. Remember, for just 1 dollar an episode, you can join our Patreon-only discord, which is currently embroiled in a hot debate on eating dice. Should we cronch? Should we not cronch? PLEASE DON’T CRONCH. Head on over to patreon.com/jointhepartypod.
We also have some exciting news - we are now a part of Multitude, a new audio collective. We’re creating a banner for us and all of our indie audio friends a banner to rally around. It is Join the Party, Potterless with Mike Schubert, aka Schubes, and the two podcasts made by the Spirits team. Spirits, a drunken dive into myths and Waystation, a rewatch podcast about the creepy, queer and Canadian show Lost Girl. Our mission is to create great shows about great stories—and make them sound greater than you imagine. Not much will change - maybe you’ll hear trailers from them on our show, maybe hear us on theirs - we’re all coming together to lean on each other. You can find the twitter account @MultitudeShow or the website http://multitude.productions/
We are sponsored this week by 20 Sided Store in Brooklyn, New York. We love them with all our hearts, especially because it is my local gamestore. But now they have lept into cyberspace with an awesome new website. It is sleek and smart, sorting their products into games, cards, books, and mooore. You can even pre-order what you want without leaving your couch. It’s a gamer's paradise. And for listeners of JTP, we have a discount code for you. Use JOINTHEPARTY at checkout for 20% off. So head over to twenty (full word) sided store.com and use our discount code JOINTHEPARTY.
Finally, it would be lovely if you could recommend our show. The best way to grow JTP is by word of mouth. We are the words and you are the mouths here. Tell a close friend, a D&D buddy, an audio drama fanatic, a gargoyle enthusiast, a pen pal, anyone who could use our fun, silly, ridiculous, fantasy story. And if you feel inspired, throw us a review on iTunes or Apple Podcasts - it really really helps.
[twinkling, echoing tone]
[drips echoing through the cavern]
Eric: You are in a very large, circular- it's kind of like a main hall. It's this massive open-air portion of this cavern. It is a big circle and the radius is 50 feet long. However, this is not just a stone cavern like you've been in before. There is a 30-foot radius pool of inky disgusting black water right in the center of the cavern.
Amanda: And is the Bone Whale floating?
Eric: Yeah, the Bone Whale it's kind of like thrashing and floating around in the middle of this pool. And Jamie is caught inside of its ribcage.
Michael: Do we see any other creatures i.e. fish or bombilates?
Eric: Well, yes you do. Inside of the disgusting black water are schools of these dead fish are just swimming and bobbing through, and it's circulating like the entire length of the pool. And they're like jumping up and snapping at the air and diving back down. I'm going to let you all do one ability check before biz starts going down.
Brandon: So, I am going to walk up to this dark pool of water and do an Investigation check. I'm not going to touch it but I'm going to see if I can notice anything in particular.
Eric: Sure, make a roll on that.
[dice rolling]
Brandon: That was an 8
Eric: Okay. As you get close to the dark water, as soon as you get to the edge of it, the fish start jumping up and snapping at you. I mean, you were swimming in the water before when you were saving Cassie, but these things are even nastier. It's like they have like flesh coming off of the bones and like, they are just like all around disgusting, and they have like this viscous like black goop that you just do not like. And actually, it makes you a little bit sick.
Brandon: Yup sounds about right.
Amanda: I'm going to sneak around the outside of this cave, like hugging the wall sticking to the shadows, and try to make my way around to the other side of the pool see what's over there.
Eric: Sure.
Amanda: Stealth roll?
Eric: Stealth roll.
[dice rolling]
Amanda: 14 + 6 for and non-natural 20.
Eric: Ooh yeah. Inara, you're hugging the side of the cavern and you don't have the sense that anyone notices what you're doing. As you walk around the side of the cave, on the left side you see a pedestal that has no statue on it.
Amanda: I'm going to put the limbo statue on that pedestal and keep walking
Eric: Okay.
Michael: Because of that pedestal being there, I'm going to do my best focusing and Perceptioning to trying to read as much of the runes as possible and understand what the pedestals are for and what the runes tell me.
Eric: Sure.
Michael: And that’s a Perception.
Eric: Yeah.
Michael: So, I have an 11 for Perception, and my Eyes of the Runekeeper, which lets me read anything.
Eric: Yeah you track the runes, are- still circulate around the side of the cavern. They go over to the right side, and this is another story. Once there was a giant who spent too much time above ground. She saw monsters everywhere that she looked, so she ran. After running for hours she came upon a beast larger than a hundred of her and she swung her club as hard as she could. The beast was actually a mountain, and everyone knows the mountain can fight back.
As you read it the story ends about 40 feet up, and next to the story are divots that are carved into the stone. And it is large enough for a giant to clamor up that ladder, and it is the length of the ladder going from about 10 feet up and then to 40 feet up
Michael: Do the runes end there or continue up?
Eric: No, they end right there. It feels like justified. This story is justified within the 30 feet of this stone ladder and like, that is the left margin is these big stone divots.
Amanda: Is there a doorway at the top of the ladder.?
Eric: Yeah there's another lip like you saw before. Inara-
Amanda: Yes.
Eric: You are now secured in your spot on the other side of the cavern, and you look back to the statue because there is a sound coming from the archway.
[deep rumbling sound]
And the door is starting to open up. And as the door opens up, the slime burbles and globles and it makes its way forward. And although it doesn't make a sound, it doesn't really see- it doesn't have good Perception, so it just kind of like moseys its way right into the water. And Tracey, it is decently close to you from where you were expecting it. As it touches the water, these disgusting Bonefish just start attacking it and are just like ravaging it.
[thrashing water sounds]
And the ooze just gets devoured by these disgusting fish, and the Bone Whale turns towards the ooze, lets out an ear splitting echoing call, and looks at all four of you around the room. And let's get it on.
[energetic, electronic action music begins playing]
All right we are back in Initiative we're going to start from the top. Tracey go ahead.
Brandon: I think what I want to do is yell over to Alonzo and say- I want him to try to shoot the arrow into the water and see what happens, and then I'm going to delay my turn.
Eric: Sure. Alonzo responds
Eric (as Alonzo): Yeah, I guess. I mean am I trying to shoot- hit the-the water or the, the creatures or- what am I trying to hit?
Brandon (as Tracey): Yeah like last time when you shot the arrow, the ooze went away for a bit. I'm hoping that of you shoot in the water, at least give me a pathway that I can run and I can try to hit this Bone Whale and see if anything actually hits it.
Eric (as Alonzo): Dog, I mean I think that it only works for people... well not people like creatures and stuff.
Brandon (as Tracey): How do you know you just found it?!
Eric (as Alonzo): A-Alright I'll do it. Okay.
Eric: Inara it is now your turn. Tracey is delaying his turn.
Amanda: I'm going to pull up the shadow cowl around my neck and blink up into the shadow of the lip, so I'll be two or three feet into this area behind the light cast by the Dancing Light orb.
Eric: Hell yeah. Alright. I like it. You're on this massive like terrifying black water slide that just like shoots you right forward, and then you look around and you're just in the lip of this cave.
Amanda: Oh yeah like I pull the cowl up around my head so that it's sort of like hangs over my eyebrows like two or three inches, and I think just sort of tense my whole body and screw my eyes shut, and then when I open them they were some kind of like rushing sound sensation. I feel dizzy and then I end up on that lip.
Eric: Cool. Inside of the cave is another statue. This statue is another humanoid with regular sized arms, but this one is squatting, and it is holding a boulder on top of its shoulders. Johnny it’s your turn.
Michael: I'm going to delay my action till after Alonzo shoots the bow and arrow and I see what happens. I will as a bonus action cast Shillelagh on my quarterstaff.
Eric: Great. And it's all a-powered.
Michael: Thanks.
Eric: Great. Alonzo takes another arrow out of his quiver and he's like
Eric (as Alonzo): I only have one more cursed one left. I hope this one works.
Michael: I roll my eyes as a free action
[Amanda and Eric laugh]
Eric: He nocks it back on his bow, and trains an eye on one of the fish that he saw attack the black ooze. And he fires it directly into the water. And he waits a second. Nothing happens.
Brandon (as Tracey): Alright, well we tried that. Thanks Alonzo.
Eric (as Alonzo): I did it.
Brandon (as Tracey): Let me know if you have any other ideas.
Eric (as Alonzo): No. That's it.
Brandon (as Tracey): Okay. Can you walk on water?
Eric (as Alonzo): No.
Brandon (as Tracey): Okay.
Eric (as Alonzo): I'll try to get this medallion to work. You think that's a good idea?
Brandon: Probably not.
Eric (as Alonzo): Okay.
Brandon: What I'm going to do is try to shoot my Long Arm of the :aw towards Jamie and see if I can grab him.
Eric: Okay, yeah. As soon as you guys start attacking this thing Jamie looks up and he's banging on the ribs and he said
Eric (as Jaime): Let me out of here. I can't get out from the inside. I don't know what's going on in here!
Brandon (as Tracey): Jaime, try to grab onto this hook!
Brandon: Hey Eric, I rolled good.
Eric: Well I would love it if you told me what it is.
Brandon: It was a 17 plus 3 for a 20.
Eric: Hell yeah, you cast... whenever you use the Long Arm of the Law, I always think it's like a fishing rod. Like you throw it all the way back, and you cast your arm betwixt the rib cage, and it grabs Jamie right from his front and he goes
Eric (as Jaime): Okay I guess we're doing this.
Eric: Johnny are you hoping back in?
Michael: Yeah. I’m going to cast Blade Ward on myself and sidle up next to Alonzo.
Eric: [laughing] Alright. I like it. It is now the Bone Whale’s turn. First it rears its massive boney tail up, and is targeting Tracey.
[dice rolling]
That is lower than your AC so the Bone Whale tries to womp it down upon you but misses about 5 feet to your left, and it opens its toothy maw upon Johnny and tries to take him out.
[dice rolling]
Michael: No, please.
Eric: That is a natural 20 for the Bone Whale!
Michael: No- no pls. No pls. No pls.
Eric: That is very good!
[dice rolling]
Brandon: You did Blade Ward yourself.
Michael: I did Blade Ward myself.
Eric: That you did.
Michael: Oh, thank god. So that’s-
[dice rolling]
Eric: The whale opens his mouth and chomps upon you. But the Blade Ward fends off some of the teeth. So, you're not hurt as much and you take 17 points of damage.
Michael: 17 points...
Eric: 17 points of damage.
Michael: I heard 70. For those counting at home I'm at 22.
Eric: You are a very bloody.
Michael: I’m bloody!
Eric: You have like a cool black eye and you’re bleeding from your nose now.
Michael Nice. Oh, great.
Eric: Alright, Inara it's your turn.
Amanda: I'm going to delay my turn until I see how Tracey's grapple works out.
Michael: And that puts Alonzo next, doesn’t it?
Eric: Yes it does. Alonzo is going to just fire another arrow at the whale.
[dice rolling]
And he hits and he does-
[dice rolling]
8 points of damage.
Michael: Yay!
Eric: It just kind of hits the bone, and the arrow lodges in there and the Bone Whale is unhappy with Alonzo.
Brandon: The Bone Whale doesn't like blink out of existence with my grapple does with it?
Eric: No, it does not.
Brandon: [relieved] Okay.
Michael: So, was it really the power of belief that made that arrow work? If so, I may accidentally be the most powerful wizard of all time.
[Brandon laughing]
Amanda: I think you are.
Eric: As Alonzo fire as the arrow at the Bone Whale, he turns towards him, and it opens its mouth and again lets out a massive ear-splitting wail.
[dice rolling]
All of a sudden, he's just shaken to his core. He is shivering and he is extremely frightened.
Eric (as Alonzo): [nervously] Ah- I'm not. No, I'm not going to attack that thing anymore. Never mind, sorry.
Brandon (as Tracey): Cool, great thanks Alonzo.
Eric: Tracey, it's your turn.
Brandon: Alright, so I'm going to try to reel in my newfound friend, Jamie. So, I am making a Strength check.
Eric: Yeah.
[dice rolling]
Michael: I want a Tracey Long Arm of the Law ‘Gone Fishing’ thing. By what I can see over there, I sense that a good time happened.
Amanda: Doesn’t look good.
Brandon: I got a 4 + 3 for a 7.
Eric: And the Bone Whale got way higher than you did. So, as you try to reel Jamie in, whatever is holding him in there is not happy with you. You're a little like pushing him against where you think these ribs might separate, and he just can't come through. What you do see though, is there is some weird black goop that is traveling up your arm. It's slow, but it is a-clambering up your arm.
Amanda: I think it's my turn, now right?
Eric: Yeah, go ahead.
Amanda: I'm going to grab the weird squatting statue in my left hand, and with my right kind of hold the side of my shadow cowl, and I'm going to blink into the dim belly of the whale.
Eric: Okay Investigation or Arcana, you can choose.
Amanda: Arcana please.
Eric: Okay.
[dice rolling]
Amanda: 9 + 2 for an 11.
Eric: Okay. You grab the statue off the pedestal, and you blink into the belly of the beast. As you look at Jamie, he is just as angry and he looks fine, except this weird black goo is surrounding him.
Amanda: Like he got dipped in mud or something?
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: Okay.
Eric: The other thing which you notice because this has happened to you before. You remember when you first got the shadow cowl?
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: And you put it on.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: And it was as dark and inky and strange looking.
Amanda: Yes.
Eric: You're getting the same feeling from this inky blackness that's on top of Jamie. But if it's at all possible, it's even blacker and darker.
Amanda (as Inara): Hey Jamie. Just hold on.
Eric (as Jaime): I mean if you could break me out, I'd like that.
Eric: Inara, after you've blinked into the middle of the Bone Whale, you hear another shaking sound
[low rumbling sound]
And the shaking is coming from directly above you.
Michael: I will be casting Sacred Flame onto the Bone Whale. It needs to make a Dex saving throw of 15.
[dice rolling]
Eric: Yeah, the Bone Whale got a 14.
Michael: Very good. 1 d8.
[dice rolling]
Ha! Great, 1 + 4 for 5 damage.
Eric: Okay.
Michael: But it's flamey and it’s fun and it’s radiant...
Eric: So that's Radiant damage so that Bone Whale takes 10 damage.
Michael: Hey!
Eric: It's like one of those Chinese lanterns that floats down from the sky inside and then just bursts for 10 damage.
Amanda: It's very pretty.
Michael: I'm sure it's not angry at me now.
Eric: It's the Bone Whale's turn next, and it is taking a little chomp at Johnny the warlock.
Michael: I did- I did nothing wrong.
[dice rolling]
Eric: What's your AC?
Michael: My AC is 13.
Eric: Yeah you take 20 points of damage.
Michael: So, great news everybody. I'm at two health.
Eric: Tight, tight, tight. So Johnny’s getting a little bloody during this fight. So, Tracey, you’re worried that he's going to do its tail out at you again.
[dice rolling]
But instead it pulled its tail back and wallops it against the wall of the cavern. And all around you, you see that some of the stone starts to crumble, and you're noticing that the water level is starting to rise. You guys all now have only 10 feet of shoreline. The water is now 40 feet, and Tracey you are standing directly in the water. Make a Wisdom saving throw.
Brandon: I'm so glad I made Tracey so wise. He’s such a wise character.
Eric: He’s a wiseman.
[dice rolling]
Amanda: He's a wise guy.
Michael: Nice.
Brandon: Well I got 10 and then I got a minus 1. So now it's a 9
Eric: 9. So again as the water comes up to you those disgusting like rotten ghost fish, gross stuff comes up to you and tries like get all up in your face. They don't bite you, but they really just like surround you and you feel queasy again. But then you remember you're a robot and you can't be poisoned.
[all laughing]
Brandon: I’m like
Brandon (as Tracey): Oh yeah, I'm cool. I'm good.
Eric: You're like you're like oh I've got to hurl. Oh, I don't have food because I'm a robot.
Brandon: The hurl comes out in a perfect cube.
Eric: Yes. You just put it back up in your mouth.
Amanda: Ew.
Michael: Snacks for later.
Amanda: You brought snacks this whole time!
[Brandon laughing]
Eric: It's Alonzo's turn now and he-
[dice rolling]
He tries to shoot another one at the Bone Whale but he's just too terrified of that thing and he just runs away. It is now Tracey's turn. Here's the deal, Inara is still inside, Johnny is still staring around getting all bloodied and messed up, and you were still grappled onto Jamie but Inara is standing nearby and the goo is now slowly creeping closer. What do you do?
Brandon: Here's what I do. I have two attacks. So, I'm going to put my shield away that I’m holding with my left arm, grab my great axe and cut the chain of the Long Arm of the Law.
Eric: Cool.
Brandon: And then I'm going to fast movement up to the fish and recklessly attack him with my great axe.
Eric: Alright I'm going to make you do an attack roll against yourself to how fine chopping your arm off is.
Brandon: Okay. 12 + 3 for 15.
Eric: Okay. You slice at the chain of the Long Arm of the Law. It's a pretty clean cut and remember you still have like your regular arm on it. It's just like a cool glove.
Brandon: Right.
Eric: But the chain is now just like fallen into the water and starts to sink. And you actually don't see it hit the ground. It just kind of keep sinking, and sinking, and sinking.
Brandon: So, I'm going to throw my Long Arm of the Law quickly back into my pack, and two arm run as fast as I can towards the Bone Whale with my great axe and take a chop out of its rib cage. I'm feeling barbecue tonight.
Eric: Alright, roll
Brandon: I'm glad I have advantage with that reckless attack because I got a 17 plus 3 for a 20.
Eric: That's a hit.
Brandon: Oh, actually my attack bonus is five. I got 22.
Eric: It's still a hit.
[dice rolling]
[Michael laughing]
Brandon: As epic as this looked, I only did like 4 damage.
Eric: Alright you do 4 damage. Good job. Great job.
Brandon: But it looked really cool.
Eric: Yeah it did look really really cool, but you didn't make a dent in the bone whale. Inara it's your turn.
Amanda: Thank goodness. So, the Long Arm of the Law claw fell off of Jamie, right?
Eric: Yes, it did.
Amanda: great. Would you characterize this whale as surprised?
Eric: I would characterize it as surprised, it doesn't know you're there.
Amanda: That's great because I have advantage if I surprise a creature, and if I end up hitting, I have an automatic crit.
Eric: Alright, do it.
Amanda: So, I'm going to use my two daggers to slash at the two sides of the whale's belly.
Eric: Great.
[dice rolling]
Amanda: First one is 7.
[dice rolling]
Amanda: Next one is 4, so 7 + 6 for 13.
Eric: Alright, with one dagger you try to plunge it into the Bone Whale but nothing happens. So, do the other one.
[dice rolling twice]
Amanda: I got a 16 both times, so 16 + 6 for a 22.
Eric: Yeah that’s a hit. That’s a crit, so do your damage twice.
[die rolling]
Amanda: 11 points of damage.
Eric: Nice. Alright with the second one you stab it, and the dagger goes into the rib cage, and that Bone Whale is unhappy because it did not know where that was coming from.
Amanda: Awesome. I'm going to twist the dagger on the way out to see if I like cracked the rib or do whatever I can. Doesn't matter. And then I'm going to grab Jamie around the waist with one arm. I have still the statue in my other hand, and I'm going to use a shadow cowl to blink back into the archway from whence we came.
Eric: Okay. You and Jamie are linked together during this shadow water slide, and you show back up in the original archway that you came from. Inara, you look down at your hands and you have this black goop that is crawling slowly up your hands, and it's making your way up your shoulders, and it's moving pretty quickly. We'll get to that in a second.
The rumbling that you heard before, the top of the dome in which you're in just opens up and five boulders just come crashing down from that top
[boulders splashing into water]
And I'm going to roll a whole bunch of shit!
[dice rolling]
And that is 61 points of damage!
Michael: Wow.
Eric: The boulders came crashing down from the ceiling and they all five land on top of the Bone Whale. Tracey, you were standing directly underneath the Bone Whale. So please make a Dexterity saving throw to get the hell out of there.
Brandon: Great with my danger sense I have advantage on Dex when I dodge away from danger. And thank God because that was a 1. 10. 9 + 1 for 10.
Eric: Tracey you managed to dodge out of the way of some of the boulder, but you just can't get out of the Bone Whale crashing on top of you, and you take 21 points of damage.
Brandon: Got it.
Eric: You are also prone and directly underneath the Bone Whale. You are not crushed by the Bone Whale, but like you are not looking good.
Brandon: So, am I like floating in water?
Eric: Yeah. Now you're floating in water
Brandon: And I'm down to 26 hit points.
Eric: Nice. Johnny. It is your turn, Tracey just got hit by a Bone Whale, how do you feel that?
Michael: Not great. I'm going to assume the best thing I could do for Tracey is eliminate the thing that's on top of him, so I'm gonna cast Guiding Bolt.
Eric: Okay.
Michael: I'm going to cast it as a second level spell. So, it needs to make a ranged save of 15.
Eric: Dexterity?
Michael: Yes.
[dice rolling]
Eric: Alright it rolled a 14.
Michael: So, I hit. What's Alonzo doing?
Eric: Alonzo is scared as crap behind you. He is just shivering.
Michael: Alright, I put my hand on Alonzo to try to calm him, and with the other hand finger gun to the Bone Whale to the face and cast Guiding Bolt, which creates a flash of light streaking from my finger guns straight to the creature. Also, the entire creature is going to start glittering.
[dice rolling[
Ugh not great... 10, 14, and then I add Charisma, that’s 18. It's not a lot guys. 18 damage times two, 36.
Eric: 36. Okay.
Michael: And until the next turn, any attacks on it have advantage.
Eric: Okay great. After the boulders destroyed the majority of this Bone Whale, it is just like flipping and flopping around with like fragments going everywhere. This is like a destroyed Halloween decoration. Now you have set it a-glittering. Terrifying, it’s haunting my dreams. Yeah you do a bunch of damage to it. This thing is looking a really bad-off man.
Michael: Unfortunately, though I'm also doing real bad off.
Eric: It's the Bone Whale’s turn again. Johnny, it is not happy that it keeps munching on you.
[dice rolling]
Michael: Could it perhaps not munch on me? I mean listen let's negotiate here.
Eric: Hey, what's your AC?
Michael: 13.
Eric: I rolled a 13...
Michael: Okay, okay, okay, but let's negotiate for a moment. Here's- here's why.
Eric: Johnny, you take 12 points of damage and you are unconscious and passed out.
Michael: So, the next turn I'm going to have to do death saving throws?
Eric: Yes.
Michael: Guys. Please.
Eric: And again, it slams its tail against the side of the wall. And again, more rocks start to crumble, and the water level starts to rise, and all of you are in bad places. Inara, I need you to make a Wisdom saving throw.
[dice rolling]
Amanda: 19 plus 1 for a 20.
Eric: Oh yeah. You and Alonzo- you guys get the gross stink up in your faces, but you are able to hold it together and you guys don't toss all of your metaphorical fantasy cookies. Alright. It's Alonzo's turn! Alonzo has stopped shaking like a leaf after he sees Johnny get all a-munched, and he pulls another arrow out of his quiver and he nocks it back and says
Eric (as Alonzo): This one's for pop pop.
Eric: He fires it towards the bone whale.
[dice rolling]
And right where Johnny has dropped the Chinese lantern of your Sacred Flame he shoots right in the left eye, and all the bones start to crumble.
[music stops]
It falls apart in just dust floating upon this nasty pool and Alonzo has beaten the Bone Whale.
Michael: Come on.
Amanda: Come the fuck on.
Eric: And Alonzo holds his arms up in the air and says
Eric (as Alonzo): Yeah, I did it!
Amanda: I'm running forward to try to drag Johnny out of the water.
Eric: Okay, Inara, you dive directly into that nasty water as you're still getting covered in black goop. And the goop comes up over your neck, and then your face, and then the cowl. And the goop starts to just become part of the cowl. It just like envelops it and starts to envelop all of you and you feel yourself start to change.
[shimmering sounds]
You feel like less corporeal. You feel like your sense of self is almost like going away and you see a flash of white light and you're now standing in an all-white room. And in front of you is Cali, and she says
Eric (as Cali): you mother fucker. I'm stuck with you? Oh my god.
Amanda: I'm going to hold up my hand and say
Amanda (as Inara): I am sorry about the sandwich.
Eric (as Cali): I was under some sort of charm spell and you just murdered me. Was it worth it?
Amanda: I am just going to hold up my hands and I'm speechless.
Eric (as Cali): Alright well I guess we're stuck together.
Eric: She grabs you by both shoulders and says
Eric (as Cali): Alright you're with me
Eric: And you come back into the water and you look down at your hands. These hands are not your hands. They are purple and incorporeal and glowing. And you look down at your feet, and you are much taller than you are remember. And now the water just like isn't even touching you. You were just floating through it. And you watch Johnny's body within the skeleton start to sink down, and down, and down. You dive after the body, and you are just moving through the water like it's nothing. You even come to the skeleton and just move right through it, and you grab onto Johnny and your hand just moves right through him. And in the back of your head Cali says
Eric (as Cali): [echoing deeply] This one's on you.
Eric: And you pop back, and you're back in your regular body.
Amanda: I'm going to grab onto the neck of his cloak and try to swim up.
Eric: Okay. Tracey, back on the surface you get hard slap right to the face.
Brandon (as Tracey): OW!
Eric: And it's Jamie. He's like
Eric (as Jaime): You gotta wake up robot!
Eric: And he's just like banging your head into the water. He's just like standing like right in the water where you're laying down in the water. He’s like
Eric (as Jaime): We gotta get out here now!
Brandon (as Tracey): Where's Johnny and Inara?
Eric (as Jaime): They’re down sinking down with the skeleton. You and I we gotta get out NOW!
Brandon (as Tracey): I can't just leave them.
Eric (as Jaime): [sighs] Alright. Okay. Uh, um. There's an exit. If we go down the hole where the Bone Whale and all this stuff is coming from, we just swim right through there. Can you hold your breath?
Brandon (as Tracey): I don't even breathe, dog.
Eric (as Jaime): Alright. Both of us together. Let’s go.
Brandon (as Tracey): Let's do it.
Eric (as Alonzo): Hey wait for me guys!
Eric: And Alonzo comes running toward you and says
Eric (as Alonzo): I can't- I'm not going to swim.
Eric: Jaime grabs one arm around Alonzo's waist and says
Eric (as Jaime): Alright little guy you're with me
Eric: All of you guys dive. I want Tracey and Inara to make Strength checks.
[dice rolling]
Brandon (as Tracey): I got 10 + 3 for 13.
[dice rolling]
Amanda: I have no modifyer, so straight 8.
Eric: Okay, Inara, you have enough strength to push through the skeleton mouth, but you are not getting much ground. As you make your way through the skeleton, you see Jamie. He doesn't really swim. It's like he's running through water. He's just like sprinting no matter what surface he's on. Alonzo is holding his breath and his cheeks are puffed out wide, and Tracey is doing his best. It's a really fast doggy paddle but it's like- it's blazing forward.
Johnny.
Michael: May I do a death saving throw?
Eric: Sure.
Michael: Johnny begins to glow. Small at first, but then a searing bright white light starts to emanate from him. For some reason, it doesn't blind you or anyone else in the water, but you feel like it could be blinding and, for Johnny he is transported somewhere else although his body is still with Inara.
Eric: Johnny you feel like you're in just nothingness. It's not light, it's not dark. You're just kind of floating around until you see the ball of light that you recognize from your lantern come down from, it's not really the top it's just like it just kind of comes and appears in front of you.
Michael: How do we fight against that darkness encroaching on our stars?
The Undying Light: As every star goes out, you are one step closer to the end. Watch the boy. It is not his fault, but he must be put back together
Michael: While I'm still here I have a request.
The Undying Light: Yes, Johnny?
Michael: Can we eliminate this darkness that oozes through the water of Antipolis?
The Undying Light: That sounds possible. I can take care of that.
Michael: Johnny begins to glow where he's standing in this plane, and in the real world, he begins to glow more fiercely to the point that it starts just searing through all the water of Antipolis eliminating this black shadowiness from the waters of Antipolis.
Eric: Everyone just sees a flash of light coming from the river, and then everything's gone. The Bonefish are gone. The monstrous bombleades are gone. Fishermen out on the river are just totally freaked out. A few of them fall in the water. But they realize that there's no danger here anymore. The clouds part from the sky, and it is yet another clear night in Antipolis.
[sounds of crickets, waves]
[shimmering tones play]
The five of you swim through this deep dark cavern and surface right in the middle of the river. Alonzo as soon as he surfaces goes.
Eric (as Alonzo): [gasping for breath] I-I've never swim that far in my life.
Eric: Jamie says
Eric (as Jaime): Yeah you don't really do anything. But happy to be of service here.
Eric: Tracey and Inara, you guys surface, and Johnny, even though he's glowed brightly, he's now returned to his regular form and he's still passed out.
Amanda: Okay, so I'm going to use one arm to kind of keep his shoulders and head above water and with the other. I'm going to hold up my hand to see if it's corporeal, if it's transparent, and just kind of like pat my neck try to see if I'm myself or if there is a shadow around.
Eric: You don't notice anything different.
Brandon: Tracey sees that everyone is seemingly conscious at least, and starts making for the bank of the ruins. I put my arm around Johnny as well and help Inara swim to the surface.
Eric: Cool. With the two of you, you can pretty easily swim Johnny back to the bank of the ruins. And Tracey you pull him the rest of the way up onto the shore and then throw him down and try to lay him out as best you can. And he is still unconscious.
Brandon (as Tracey): Inara I don't- I don't know what to do here. How do we... I don't know what to do.
Amanda: I can't respond to Tracey, but I'm kneeling next to Johnny, and sort of slapping his face lightly trying to like open up the neck of his cloak to make sure he can breathe properly. I think I'll probably take the cloak off of his shoulders so it's not like weighing him down, and just sort of fluttering around him just trying to do something.
Brandon (as Tracey): He's- he's supposed to save me. I don't save him.
Amanda: And I just look up at Tracey and say
Amanda (as Inara): I guess it's just us now.
Eric: Inara, as you say that, Johnny begins to glow again, and it starts low and gets brighter and brighter like putting wood on a fire, and all of a sudden Johnny bolts up straight and hops to his feet.
Michael (as Johnny): Who's up to go for a swim huh?
[Eric chuckling]
Brandon (as Tracey): That is not funny!
Amanda (as Inara): Johnny! We thought you were dead.
Brandon (as Tracey): You were dead.
Amanda (as Inara): You were pretty dead, pretty dead.
Michael (as Johnny): Well I mean does the Light die? No, it's fairly undying.
Brandon (as Tracey): I'm so mad at your puns and you!
Eric: Johnny, you open your arms wide for a big hug, and you guys notice that his shirt is noticeably too long on him. And Tracey when he tries to put a hug on you, he's a foot shorter than you remember him before.
Amanda (as Inara): What?! [giggling]
Michael (as Johnny): Uh, what is this.
Brandon (as Tracey): Why are you at my chest now?
Amanda: How much taller is he than me?
Eric: Oh, you guys are very similar heights now.
Amanda: Inara is just going to laugh.
Michael (as Johnny): I guess you just have to look up to me in spirit now huh Inara?
Amanda (as Inara): Oh my God.
[single piano tone]
[theme music]