Last time on Cloudfall. Flying free in the clouds seemed like a dream too perfect to last, and it all started to sour when Kesher announced that they were running out of fuel. Something was causing their bismite to burn twice as fast as it should have and put them in jeopardy of plummeting out of the clouds before they even made it to Small Castle. That something turned out to be blight bulbs. Not your friendly neighborhood bright bulbs, but instead their magic starved husks.
After clearing all the dark barnacles off the ship, the party had a chance encounter with a pair of powerful pirates. A couple by the names of Uli and Dave are flying their own ship to the clouds, propelled by Uli's powerful magic alone. Our party was starving for Bismite and Uli was starving from starving. An exchange was made. Food for bismite.
And the adventurers all swapped stories over a shared meal. Turns out, small castle's maisie might be a little bit crazy. And there's more, a lot more. There's a lot going on out in the clouds between the blight and the blue eyed man and the constant threat of cloud fall, But we're taking it one day at a time. It's chilly.
You're out on the deck of the Shatterhorn, some of you, and Smallcastle could be just past any of these cloud banks, but it's chilly, and the wind is whipping at you. And it's exciting to watch out for a new island, but it's also kind of miserable out there.
Man, this this chili sure would have been better with some salt.
Yeah. I'm sorry about that. It just I thought it was gonna be a good idea and
It was a good idea, puppy.
Thanks. I mean, it's all our salt though. I mean, do you have to do all of it?
I'm sorry. Our salt or my salt?
Well, I mean, I guess it's yours. I don't know.
Poppy, I think it's mine.
Thanks, Mikey. I don't trust your palate,
but I appreciate it. Yeah. Raving reviews from the people that eat bulb soup. What was that soup called, Mikey?
Bright bulb soup is very good. Poppy could attest to that.
That was like booger soup.
Hold on a second. Give me that. And I take the bowl of chili, and I go whip up some bright bulb, like, mash to put in it. Wow. There you go.
Aaron takes a bite, kind of afraid,
and it's much saltier now. Constitution safe now.
It depends on Aaron's taste. You're maybe able to stomach it. Doran, you can just barely hear this. You're actually sitting with Journey kind of up against the side of the ship looking off the edge, and the bank of clouds that you see below you is quite different. It's not like the other big fluffy cumulus clouds around. The ones on the floor, so to say, of the clouds are this smooth rolling surface almost like water, almost like a pool that seems to constantly kind of undulate.
Dorne tenses a bit as it as he kinda takes us in and looks over at Journey. We're going too low, I think. We
I don't think we're moving lower, but, yeah, I agree. This is lower than I'd wanna be, but I think this is right.
I mean, yeah, I guess she was navigating. I guess we can just trust her.
Can you see anything in the clouds yet?
I lean a little further off the side and try to squint.
Leaning off the side even that much causes your palms to sweat, and your heart starts racing.
I'm spaghetti.
I don't know.
Journey reaches out and kind of grabs, gently, like, grabs his elbow and pulls him away from the edge. Journey,
you can feel immediately when you touch him Your urge to understand Doran to understand other people, you feel what Doran is feeling. He has deep seated panic about the clouds and what lies below.
Let's
just Are you are you trying
to comfort me right now?
Step away from the edge?
Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
And I let go and kinda try and shake it off.
Everything alright over there?
I just lean a little too far over the edge, I think.
See that blue guy? We don't wanna go there. I'll just check with. You all please keep watch. We gotta be close. I'll just head over to the navigation area to just make sure Yeah. You guys are okay.
Yeah. Gonna check with Kesher. Yeah. Why don't you go do that?
Do you wanna go with Erin?
Sure. Okay.
They've been acting kinda weird, don't you think?
I don't know. There's a lot going on, but, yeah, they're a little strange these days.
Okay. Have you ever not been acting weird?
That's a good point.
You enter into the navigation chamber. Kesher's got her back to you. She looks over and sees Darn and goes, hey, Dorn. Oh, hey, guys.
Keshir, I we were just, keeping watch out on the tech there, and we're getting pretty low. Are are you sure this is where it's supposed to be?
Yeah. Oh, yeah. No. Look. Here. Look over at that, navigation ring. See, that one there, it's unbalanced right now right now. It means we need to go a little bit lower still.
Right meow.
Right meow.
Too long on back seat. Okay. What happens again if we actually get into that blow layer? Oh, yeah. Kesher, like, grabs this, crankshaft and just
kinda, like, locks it in place so that the ship won't turn one one way or the other. That's not what a crankshaft is, but that's fine. She walks closer to the window, and she kind of points down at the clouds. She says, it's called the Null Mist. I mean, basically, if we touch it, we're dead. It's it's anti magic completely, so if you go near it, a person who can use magic can't use magic, and a ship that runs on Bismite doesn't fly. Knoll mist? No. Like, nothing. Like, null.
Knoll mist. Okay.
Okay. Alright. You said we're close, though?
Mhmm. Think so. According to this, it looks like it could be
any minute. Almost everyone's on deck. I guess the best thing we can do is just keep watching. I just wanted to make sure you knew we can't get into that mist.
Of course. I mean, it wouldn't be a navigator if I didn't know that. Right? Yeah. Silly. Alright.
Should we go? Yeah.
Seems like you
know what you're doing.
Erin, you see something out of the corner of your eye. Out the window, you see a landmass. You see a thin gray mist drifting out from a small stone plaza large enough to land a few ships on. And just beyond, you see a massive stone archway leading into the walls of Smallcastle, but the island itself, the island of Smallcastle, is tiny. It's less than half the size of lore, and it's almost completely one single structure, all one castle.
You can see entire generations of construction. They're all layered on top of each other. Near the bottom, you've got rickety, decaying wooden decks, all kind of splintering and falling apart. And then higher up, you've got these gray cobblestone walls with, slightly more well kept, kind of stone masonry. You see tall stained glass windows lining alongside the central keep.
But that central keep, that building in the middle of all of it is behind a shield. It's only visible by the way it catches light, but there's a slightly distorted sphere of force that seems to encompass much of that central keep causing occasional sparkling glimmers in its reflection.
Castle, help.
Yeah. We, head back up to the main deck to take a better look.
When you get out there, you see everyone is excitedly, like, leaning over the rails. You can even see Sir Boas up in the crow's nest kind of looking towards the island.
You know, it it's kinda exactly what I pictured. Like, I thought it was just gonna be one tiny castle, and it is really that.
It really is. Not too big. The perfect size castle, really.
I wouldn't call it small castle though.
What is that shine on it?
Well, everything's a little bigger to you, puppy.
Yeah. Yeah. Left up. I'm tiny. Can I do an arcana check?
Sure.
Nat 20, man.
Nice. Okay. Good way to kick off. With a nat 20 arcana, you can tell pretty quickly, Poppy, that this is a resilient sphere. It's not something that you're used to using in baking because unless you needed, like, an impromptu, like, cake, bell jar, or something, you would never need resilience sphere, but that's what it is. Nothing can get in or out. Not magic, not people, not weapons, nothing.
That might be a problem, for later. That's a resilience sphere.
What's it? Resilient.
Everything, really. Magic, people, force, whatever. You can't go in or out.
Swords, I imagine.
Definitely. So, unless you have, like, a an anti resilience sphere sword, but you don't have one of those. Oh.
Oh, it just so happens. No. I'm just kidding.
Hold on.
We have What? What?
Hold on. Let's not forget, you all still have one financial flashbang where you're allowed to invent a thing out of nowhere at the cost of money.
This is so game game breaking.
The more powerful the thing, the more I will destroy your wallet.
I have an ultimate, endlessly reusable, anti sphere bomb. Woah. I'm just kidding. Great.
But this is the only sphere we're gonna find.
I purchased the subtle knife.
Well, that could explain why Maisie's stuck here. We got a clear landing area, though.
Perhaps Maisie put it there herself.
Yeah. We don't know anything. We should really talk to someone before we try and figure anything out. I
say we land and and investigate.
I wanna do a perception check of the keep from while we're
Oh, yeah.
Where we can land.
Yeah. I wanted to taste the air around it.
Oh, okay. Okay. Yeah. Give me give me advantage perception checks on both of those.
Oh, we're gonna learn so much. Yeah.
I can do this. The end boss is in the bottom of the s. So just go straight there. Yeah. 13. You found the map
and the compass.
Yeah. Oh, shit. I like that Thomas. 13. 13 for tasting the air. You get a pretty good sample, Poppy, and you definitely taste impending doom. You hear Ganymede go, better. What the hell was that?
I don't think it's good, guys. It's it tastes weird, like spooky.
Oh, actually, the aftertaste isn't that bad, but at first, it sucks. Sucks.
Potentially not so bad? Haunted for sure.
Haunted? Haunted.
Yeah. What do your l five's see?
Erin is squinting. Specifically, I wanna try to perceive the stained glass windows and if I can tell what they're depicting. Mhmm. And I got a 22.
Wow. Okay. Yes. With your, like, super zoomed in vision, you can see there's, like, rows of stained glass. And so these are tall.
These are, like, 3 stories tall, each of these windows and quite narrow, and there's about 15 of them lining this central cathedral like keep. What they depict is construction. Years like different generations of a small castle. You can see essentially different civilizations that have lived here over the years. And the one thought that it trips in your mind is, where does it end?
Small castle can't build forever. They don't have the resources. They don't have the stone to build this place forever. Where does it come from, and how does it end?
Where does it come from? Where does it go?
How do they build it? Caught an eye, Joe. Joe's back.
Oh, no. Not Juglung Joe.
Juglung Joe.
One interesting thing I was just thinking of, the stained glass windows caught my Aaron's eye because back in the day, they were used to teach people who couldn't read about religion and Very cool. Stuff. So that's kind of just in my mind, I was like, oh, Aaron would be interested in that.
I feel like in, like, the earlier days, Aaron had, like, walked the streets of Farewell and learned about, like, El Matr and Helm just by looking at the depictions on the windows and things like that.
Mhmm. It's
very cool. So does that mean you're all going in for a landing then on that open plaza?
Well, we haven't voted for it.
Do you guys everyone in favor of landing, say aye.
Aye. Aye.
I guess.
Uh-uh. No. I need an affirmative from you, Aaron.
Aye aye, captain Poppy. Thank you.
Landing ho. Is that the right way to say it?
I think
she got the message. Yeah.
Okay. More hoes, more problems,
nurse Kim. Keeping it.
Yeah. Watch out. Every stupid thing we say is recorded forever. No.
As your ship, the Shatterhorn, draws into that plaza, something feels off. But, now, it's to be expected. Poppy kind of called that one from the 3rd point line. That means nothing. Spooky.
You know, Poppy's like the Steph Curry of this campaign.
Who's Steph Curry?
Is that
a good thing?
We love a short king. We do love a short king.
Do you guys seriously not know who Steph Curry is?
She's she's like the foremost, cook on saffron.
Oh my god. Curry. When you go to land that ship, it becomes obvious pretty quickly that those quote unquote decorative horns on the front of the ship were actually used to stabilize it when it lands. When you land the ship, missing its right horn, the ship lists to the right, and you all run to the left side of deck to get it to stabilize.
Woah. Woah.
Woah. Woah. Woah.
Load bearing horns.
Alright. No more happiness at this table. Sorry. Because because
because it's about to be spooky. It's counted. Yes.
No more happiness because out here there are no people. There are no real signs of life out here. This plaza seems like it hasn't been looked after in over a year. In Journey, you can see plants growing wild between all the stones and off the archway. Everything is covered in moss, and it's all persistently wet with the smell of musty earth and fresh water, mixing in with something nefarious.
I've seen some stuff like this before on the mainland, places where y'all's people settled and then abandoned things, and then the plants kinda grew over at all, but this doesn't feel quite right. And I would like to cast primeval awareness. And would you say that this island is a mountain?
No. Because then every Skyland would be a mountain. I would say this part of the Skyland could be a forest, but the rest is, like, a city interior kinda thing.
Great. So my primeval awareness senses aberration, celestials, dragons, elementals, fey fiends, or undead Mhmm. Within 6 miles because forest is my favorite terrain.
What is it normally? One mile. Oh, yeah. I'm kinda screwed either way. Alright. Here's what you pick up, Journey. Several undead. That is what is flagging to you here. Okay. And it's strong, and 3 of them are quite close. And this is on top of what you would normally expect.
Mhmm. You
normally expect some, like, Fae and undead hits, but you ignore those. Those are on your blacklist. Yeah.
My whitelist.
Whitelist. Sorry. That's it.
Yeah. I think there's something. You can see that Journey's hands are kind of out to her side, and she's wiggling her fingers like she's trying to describe something that isn't a true feeling, but it's very internal.
Those hand gestures look like undead.
Deep. Is that what you're
Think it's ghosts? I
Wait. Is it jazz?
Jazz ghost.
Oh, no.
It's freeform jazz. Oh, no. That's worse. Aaron's worst nightmare. There's some undead aside from the usual suspects.
Oh, no. We should all be on guard.
They're undead like zombies. Right?
I don't know. It could be anything.
I like when the dead stay dead.
Yeah. I think most of us do.
Well, there are some exceptions.
Wait. Not you. I'm so sorry.
Wait. Are you dead?
That's the theory.
Wow. But he can eat and breathe and sleep and and and love, I assume.
Wow.
We're getting there.
Still still functioning,
Fully functional.
Oh my god. Like like, emotions.
Guy wants to do maybe a history check
Mhmm.
To see if any of this castle architecture matches the ruined thing I saw on the other side of the echo.
Interesting. Okay. Yeah. Oh.
It's kind of a long shot. Yeah. It's like a 3 pointer.
It's Skyland Pangea. 12.
It does not remind you of what you had seen when you walked through that giant echo bell portal. Those towers were kind of otherworldly in a very specific way that you'll always remember. What you're seeing here feels a lot like the mainland. The architecture is very square and very humble, and that's what you're used to seeing closer to Lotum, closer to Dawn's Edge, the classic kingdoms of the mainland.
Guy, did Steve give you any details about how Maisie's trapped here? Is she gonna wanna come with us?
Not too many details. It did seem that Maisie would be perhaps difficult to work with, but now that we've arrived, perhaps I should call on Stede.
That hurt.
Come to me, Stede.
Yes.
Every time.
Yeah. What
was it that you needed? Oh, here we are, aren't we?
Yes. We are on Smallcastle.
Yes.
Have you been here before, Stede?
Only briefly when I parted ways with Maisie.
Do you know where we might locate her?
I know her at all. She's seeking out a tower of some sort.
Journey here senses the presence of undead within these walls.
As do I. Sense an undead quite close to me now.
Guy walks behind the stage.
It's Eevee. That was a joke.
Oh, so so you do not sense the undead?
No. I don't have that kind of power.
Okay. Well well, Journey does, apparently.
Journey's steed comes up to you and just kind of, like, pushes his nose into your abdomen.
I'm gonna cast speak with animals.
Oh, cool. Nice.
Hi, Steed.
Greetings.
Do you
know anything about what we might be looking at here? I I sent some undead.
Well, it's a small castle. You'll find it pretty quick whatever's in there.
After all.
It's a good use of a spell slot that I did just now.
However, I will say this place does not look like it all did when I was here the first time. There is people about hustling and bustling.
Yeah. I noticed that there isn't anybody, and it seems like the plants are taking over. It just feels wrong here.
Yeah. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't concerned.
Do you know anything about how to get in here?
I do. I mean, the main keep, it's just up through this corridor, and then there's a courtyard. You can take a right, and you go through the castle gates. There's a village, but you keep going straight, and there's the keep. Very well.
Is there anything that might be gained from an overhead view of the island? I was thinking I could take a flight overhead, but maybe it would be better if, Aaron, our best pair of eyes, made the trip.
You want me to fly?
On this donkey, of course.
I mean, I just got my Skylegs on a glider, so I don't know. I've never ridden a a living thing before.
Steve just kind of sidles up to you and, does the same thing, kinda presses his nose into your abdomen and then, like, gestures with his wings down for you to mount up.
It's quite easy, Aaron.
Okay. Can't be much different than than, riding a glider. Right?
Yeah. It's just like a glider that poops.
Great. Alright.
Erin the best way to think of me.
Erin hops on Yeah. Says,
let's go.
Aaron, your stomach lurches as Stede jumps straight the air and takes off like a jet engine and starts spiraling over a small castle. And, Guy, in your mind, you can hear him singing to himself, I can show you the world shining shimmering splendor.
It is here.
Looking down, Aaron, taking, zoomed in snapshots of this whole place, you look throughout that corridor. You look throughout the courtyard. It all looks unkept. You look at the village. You don't see any people moving about. You don't see any active fires. You don't see anyone moving. You look at the keep, and you see that shimmering sphere again. That's it. You do see that there's
a hole in the roof of the main keep, like that looks unkept as well. Behind the keep, you see a large tower that is partially in that sphere.
I come back down and report back.
How was it?
It was cold, but he's a
pretty smooth ride. It's a good steed
you have there.
I know.
Also, way easier than gliding. Oh my god. You don't do anything.
Think for yourself.
I don't know. Should we try to sneak in, or is it it doesn't seem like there's anyone around.
Well, it's not like we're here on nefarious business or anything, so we could just walk in and then
You should keep an eye out, though. I did feel that undead presence is
does anyone have something to help protect us?
Oh my god. I have passed without trace.
You all see Mike Lee Mike Lee.
Mike Lee.
You all see Mike Lee jingling out of 1 of the bedrooms here. He is covered head to toe in somebody's discarded chainmail, and he goes, I'm ready for
adventure. Oh. Mikey? Yeah. Are you sure you're up for this? You hear the shing?
Yes. And he pulls out one of Aaron's old tigers.
Aaron, why did you give that to him?
Mikey,
if you're ready for adventure
Yeah. You have to accept the mission.
Okay. Here we go. It is actually important. Yes. We need you to stake out at a location. Okay? And then you need to echo bell us if you catch something,
if you have anything. Okay? You see his expression drop. You sense that Mikey is of the age where he can tell that he's being put on the sidelines. He looks at you and he goes, yeah. I guess I could stay back with the ship.
Hold on. Mikey, can I ask a question first? Yeah. What other spells can you do?
Like I said, it's all cat trips, so I could I could, like, produce a flame, and I could, like, make some little water, and I could cut carrots.
Anything else more damaging?
Well, I mean, I could do fireball, but Hubert said not to, so I haven't done it a long time.
Well, let me let you in on a little secret.
Yeah? Uber is dead.
Wow. She went there.
Fuck. Pop.
I'm so sorry. I just mean that, No.
I understand the logic.
You have
to protect myself now.
You have to start living your life not according to other people.
Sure. Sure. Okay. Are you
Except for us. You have to live according
to us. Oh, okay. Yeah.
Yeah. We're a team, and we make decisions together, but I'm I'm saying Hubert doesn't control you anymore.
Got it. But you do.
No. Yeah. Okay. I'm your co captain.
I trust you implicitly.
We know, Mikey, that there is impending doom here. Let me add up. No. Well
Are you ready to kill something? Because if you're not, then you can't come.
Well, like, if if it's like, a bad big spider or something.
Could you kill me right now? No. And Aaron grabs the dagger and
No.
Aaron, no. I'm sorry, Aaron. I didn't wanna hurt you.
What if I became undead?
You you wouldn't do that to me? You're not ready.
Mike, are you ready to die for the cause?
I You are doing something important here, and there is real danger here. So I need you to be on the ship and to keep watch.
Okay? Yeah.
You may actually see undead before us. And in that case, you need to let us know and defend everyone else there. We'll have tick around 2, but yeah.
I suppose it's for the better. How do I end up like that guy?
We're being very rude to Guy at
the end. Oh, no. That guy.
What guy?
He's pointing over to a tree. You see a headless corpse slumped at the bottom of the tree.
Oh, but what?
No. I suppose you wouldn't, Mikey.
So, yeah, good luck, checking out all the corpses. I'm gonna eat some cookies and stay on the ship.
That's a good idea.
I don't think I ever wanna eat cookies again.
Hop 2, guys. See you later.
Now, Mikey, I have one more question for you.
Shoot.
Now you are a total. Correct?
Looks like it's Shell. Confirmed.
You have donned this chadmele.
Yes.
Does this even improve your armor class?
If you must know, I have a variable armor class. Okay. I can recede into my shell to become more defense than even you.
Well, I stand corrected, Mikey.
Journey's gonna walk over and investigate the corpse. Yeah.
Yeah. Sure.
Seems reasonable.
And Journey shouldn't be the one doing it because Journey's investigation is terrible.
I was
getting get to it.
5. That's a 5. Cool.
So, Journey, you don't even get up to it before the neck erupts with a gout of flame and it stands.
Yep. Hey, everybody. We got another.
You all hear the clinking of armor as this thing raises a mighty axe at Journey.
Aaron tries to shoot it.
Yeah. Give me a shot. With a crossbow bolt. And then roll initiative.
Oh.
19 to hit with my crossbow, Volt.
Yeah. That hits.
7 damage.
Journey, as soon as you see this thing stand up and the flame begins to billow out of its neck, it raises an ax and starts marching towards you, this green cloak flapping out behind it. As soon as it raises that ax, you see an arrow, a crossbow bolt, just out of nowhere, like immediately slam this thing right in the chest, and you see kind of list off to one side and maintain its march. That was a solid hit, Aaron, but not enough to deter this thing.
Did it get up from the ground? Was it slumped against the tree? I was not sure if it, like, pinned it against the tree or anything. That's a special shot you have
to do probably. Sure. Yeah.
Okay.
What else do we get for initiatives?
19. 8. 5 for Dorn. 19.
17. Is it just this one corpse?
So far.
Okay. There's probably 3.
Alright. That top of the initiative, it is Journey.
Journey takes a couple steps back, drops to a knee, and pulls back her bow.
Yeah. All the way?
Yep. Yep. Taking that bonus action to light it up, and then shoots an arrow. Nat 20.
Hell, yes. Uh-oh. Okay. Journey, you feel this satisfying heat coming off of your bow as you pull it back, and then you know you can get a couple more inches out of it. And when you do, your bow becomes so bright that you can barely stand to look at it, but you're looking past it at the Dullahan and you lose that arrow.
We're also more d 20 is there.
Oh. Oh. Yeah. 10. Okay. Damn it. Okay. I forgot how to play D and D. Yeah. So I do 2 d 8.
Forget your fey buds and stuff too.
Yeah. So 30.
Jeez. Alright. Riddle me this. On the radiant bow, does it say or the luminous bow, does it say it has radiant damage?
It is.
There you go.
So do I double the Do we get insurance?
Your your luminous bow damage that comes from that, not the fey buds Right. But the luminous bow would be doubled.
So that's plus another 8. So 38 in total? 38 damage total.
Got it. Wow.
Wow. That bow is hot.
Yeah. With that, it actually I was gonna say it pins the Dullahan to the tree, but what it actually does is it blows off the Dullahan's left arm and makes him drop the axe. You just see this golden light erode at this thing. It carves like a cigarette burn in its arm that just spreads out until its arm falls off.
And then I take my second attack.
Oh my god. Go ahead.
Okay.
And that is a 12 to hit.
Oh, that does not hit. Okay. Yeah. I think the brightness from your first shot actually kind of blinded you
on your second one.
Next up, we've got Guy.
Guy is sprinting up to Journey to protect her from this new creature
Yes.
And then sees her blow its arm off and, like, oh, okay.
Journey could protect you.
After this is gonna be Arin Dullahan's Poppy and Doran.
Dollahen's? That there was an s on that.
Mhmm. I said 3.
Mhmm. Yeah. But you didn't say where they were.
You probably know these guys.
Yeah. You probably know them. You probably made them. They're all named Guy.
Mhmm. Guy 1. Guy 2.
Guys guys.
Guys guys. Guys? Oh my god. The circle of nights was called guys guys. Guys. Guys night.
That was
been like, guys night?
Guys guys was their bowling league. Yeah. They bowled with their heads.
Oh my god.
Oh my god.
Sorry. I had a plan, and then you totally kicked ass. So, guides over by Journey and then takes a few steps away and casts compelled duel Mhmm. At the Dullahan.
Okay.
His eyes flash with green flame and say, who are you? What do you want? And now he must perform a wisdom saving throw.
Dance. Compelled dance.
That is a 12 as they have very little bonus to wisdom, these Dullahan.
Yeah. Tell me about it. That's a fail. It has disadvantage on attack rolls against everything except me.
Very good. Okay.
Must make another wisdom saving throw to move more than 30 feet away from you.
Yep. Eren leads to your turn.
I think Eren's gonna take their bonus action and hide. Looking for a place to hide, but also trying to check for other enemies while I'm doing that to get a good
spot to hide. Stealth for hide first.
23. I
don't know why I roll. Go ahead.
I have a plus 10 to stealth.
And then give me your perception right after that. Alright. And take advantage on this, being that you're using sight.
15.
Oh, very good. Okay. You're looking for a place to hide. What you end up finding is an overturned sign that has been there for a long time, like a wooden sign kind of tipped on the ground. Mhmm. And it's just the perfect place to be. There's tall grass right next to it. You slip right into there. From that safe vantage point, you can take a second and look around this place. You see 2 more Dalahan cruising down that corridor, headless. Again, both of them, coming straight for Guy. Okay.
Where are their heads?
Guy, look, there's more. What?
Guy, when you look up, you see 2 more Dullahan charging towards you, both of them completely headless. The one that you had seen before kind of, recovers from its damaged position after taking an arrow to the chest like that from Journey, passes right by her, axe lifted in one hand that it still has.
Yeah. I'll shoot my crossbow bolt at the one that's closer. Got it. 20, non natural 20?
Yes. Oh, yeah. That hits.
And then because I'm hidden
Sneak attack. Yep.
Nice. Baby. Okay.
Raise the dice.
15, 18, 19, 20. That's 20, 23, so 27.
Okay. Yeah. Then 27 just annihilates this thing. You get it right in the chest. You see it, kind of clutch at it as if it's dying all over again, and then you see something that you saw in the ring light. This thing is vanquished. You see these white lights start to tear out from that arrow, and you see its skin start to turn to ash as it flakes away into the wind.
Like when the dead stay dead.
Those 2 other Dullahan, that are still walking down that corridor, one holding a long sword, the other holding a spear, are charging straight for Guy. Guy, they are able to take a charging attack at you. Oh. However, without their head, they are not exactly accurate. This 12 hit guy.
Does not.
Alright. 22.
That hits. Very cool.
Alright. One of them holding a large spear strikes out at you and you just kind of, like, boogie off to the side and are able to dodge out of the way. The great sword, however, you don't have the momentum to save yourself from that. A lousy 20 damage. Do you have any resistances to necrotic damage?
Probably not.
K. Then 20, you take. After that, you all also hear
Headless horse.
Something charging on horseback towards you. Poppy, it's your turn.
Oh, shit. I would like to flash bake. K. I'm just trying to decide.
I just had the image of Poppy doing the flash dance where the water Flashbake. And she pulls it, and a bunch of just, like, little buns and cupcakes fall on her.
That's powdered sugar. Oil and eggs. That's horrible.
Okay.
I'm going to flash bake a Cinnabom, and then Pinch will automatically bring it to someone. So I'm going to give it to Journey. K. Journey, eat this.
Journey, you'd look down and you see paints right in front of you holding up a Cinnabom, a little cinnamon treat.
Oh, thanks. I'm gonna grab it.
Yeah. Poppy is able to flash bake things in an instant and immediately deliver them to her cohorts.
Wow. She's got that easy bake oven in
her pocket.
Yep. I just I grab a little tiny bit of pinch. I smack my hands together, and I cast spell, and then pinch, like, takes off with a cookie.
It makes that ding, that little
ding ding. So you consume it as a reaction.
Okay.
It can it creates one cinnamon ginger snap. You radiate an aura of cinnamon heat. All creatures near you at the end of each of your turns must make a deck save or suffer 1 d 4 fire damage.
Is that friend Orfono?
Yes. Yeah. Okay. You wanna get isolated against the enemies?
Okay. Now I'm, like, wondering if I should have sent it to Journey, actually. Somebody else? Never mind, Journey.
Pinterest didn't hurt. Okay.
I'm giving
it to Guy.
And just snatches it out of your hand.
He's like does melee.
Yeah. Exactly.
Okay. Guy, eat this.
Oh, don't mind if I do.
You see a Cinnabon with a bite taken out of it.
I have a badge from Maxi. Does that make me fire resistant? So we're good. Okay.
How much is it, damage?
1 d 4, and it's at the end of each of your turns.
Okay.
And where would I be currently? Still on the ship?
You're probably, like, one of the farthest back. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Probably, like, right on the cusp of the docking bay in the back of the ship.
Okay. I'll find something to kind of hide behind.
Yeah. Okay. Doren, it's your turn.
I wanna clarify something. Basically, I need to know if dull hands can be charmed.
You are, like, good friends with a dull hand.
That's a really good point. I was gonna say, like, you know a guy. Like, I'm gonna I'm just gonna say that
he's charmed. Nothing on my character sheet that says I can't be charmed. Yeah.
I mean, like, we would know that by now. Yeah. Mhmm. Okay. Yeah.
Yeah. So I can charm Yep. The land. Okay. I heard, we we all heard who's, coming this way. Right? Mhmm.
Yeah.
I'd like to see if I can tell where or what is coming. K.
You can tell that it's coming from that same corridor, but it's farther away. It seems to be coming up on those Dullahan. Give me a perception check with advantage. K.
Is it a listening check? Yes. Okay.
I'm gonna know everything about that fucking horse.
Perception check. K. I got a 19. This horse.
It's a pony. Four hooves. Great. Oh. Mane, tail, 2 eyes, breast Plastic horse. A butt. No. You can hear something beyond those hooves. You can hear someone breathing, a headed person. Okay. Oh. You can hear them under their breath saying, this is it. Here we are. This is it. Here we are. Okay.
Neat. 1 of the Dullahan that is attacking Guy Mhmm. The one with the great sword.
Yeah.
I'm going to cast the suggestion spell upon them. K. So it's going to be a wisdom
That, my friend, is a 2.
Oh. That's that's a fail. So I'm going to sit down on the ground, speaking to the one with the great sword. Come and play some cards with me, please.
What the
what is he doing? Sitting on the ground?
Let me put myself in a prone position.
Doran, no one.
My head and my neck.
You all see these 2 Dullahan moving through the corridor. You see one of them just drop its great sword and continue towards Zoran, and then it sits cross legged on the floor right in front of him.
I deal some of my 3 dragon anti to it. Okay. Yeah. Let me start playing cards.
Okay. Good. Alright.
Well done, Dorne. You know we are impervious to card games.
Just can't pass it up.
Do you hear Mikey from the ship? I got next round.
That's my turn.
How close is he sitting to me?
Mikey? No. Doran. Oh, maybe 20 feet away?
Great.
We're back to the top of the round with Journey.
Actually, can I go first in
this round? Is that okay?
Yeah. Okay.
As pinch handsy the cookie and I see you consume it and get a little flame ish, I, I take a step back and let you take the lead this round.
I activate form of dread.
Yes. Form of dread. Does that always involve taking your head off, guy?
Yeah. I'm gonna take my head off.
Do you wait for the cookie to go down your throat into your stomach?
I like
the image of the cookie.
He There's probably
a little
bit of
a fuzzing. Yeah. And then he lifts his head up and the rest just falls down. Still dropping. Yeah.
Yeah. Gross.
So I'm gonna do that, erupt in smoke. Looks cool. Oof. Is that 10?
That's 10.
That's 10.
Nice. Oh.
Hold on, guy. You eat the Cinnabom and your nose and ears start smoking and you take your head off and the flame just fall around you. It starts burning.
That's a good Cinnabom. I do wanna see if there's any reaction from the Dullahan too.
To the flame of your own head kind of thing? Yes.
Extra flamey.
This one that's got the spear guy, that's the one that's still threatening you. The other one's up to play cards.
Yeah. Yeah. He might not be seeing this.
This one with the spear had raised it into to kind of a phalanx position so he could charge at you and, like, run you through essentially. But when you take this position, it gets to you and stops, And it takes a fucking knee.
Oh, no. Addies, soldier.
You see it fighting with something. It it too starts to spill flame from its neck, shifting colors. Green and then pink and green and pink and green. And it begins to stand again. And you hear that coming down the corridor, and you see this white horse, this beautiful white Clydesdale bursting out from that corridor, kicking up mud behind it.
A figure with red hair swept back. A tiny, tiny mustache on this guy, skin as pale as the clouds, wearing gold armor. This guy charges out into the field and aims its lance down at the dull hand in front of you and starts charging toward it. Uh-oh. He's got this self righteous, smug little smirk on his face, and you see a golden shield at his side, and essentially just gold plated up and down his entire armor set.
A gold sword at his side as well. He's charging towards the doll head on the ground, and you hear this
Kill him.
Yep. With that, it's Guy's turn.
Yeah. Bad timing to appear like a Dullahan. Yeah. Okay. So guy is focused on this soldier in front of him who may have been under his command. And then the man on the horse shows up, donned in gold. And Guy is still erupting flame from his head and looks up at the man on the horse and immediately pops his head back on, and he says, woah. Woah, stranger. Hold it right there. I'm not with them.
That's your turn?
That's my turn. D 4 of damage.
And then I erupt
in flame. Okay.
So, yeah. Hands up. I'm not with these guys.
Yeah. Just another pulse of green flame.
Three damage.
Okay. Do I round down?
1 to you, Journey. Okay.
Oops. Sorry.
All good.
It's a.
Yeah. A little burp.
Journey. That brings it to you.
Yeah. I think I'm just gonna draw back the bow and shoot the one that guy was addressing.
The one with the spear that's kneeling right there?
Yeah. Okay. I'm still gonna do that because he's still a bad guy. 11?
Does not hit.
Okay. 2nd attack. 12.
Does not hit. Oh. Armored as that.
Sorry. That's 13.
Does not hit.
Yeah. I I I shoot a couple of warning shots at his feet.
Yeah. For sure. Warning shots.
Hey. Journey has pride too. Okay.
We still got Aaron.
Yeah. Aaron's gonna perceive the future Oh. With my new Gana meat ability. Yeah. It's a bonus action. Uh-huh. It's a perception check. If I get a 15 or higher, I know what the current plan of attack is.
Yep.
I think I'm gonna perceive this new horseman.
K.
Oh my god. A 20.
A 1 and a 20.
That's crazy. The contrast.
Yeah. That's a good one. A nat 1 and a nat 20, but with advantage. So nat 20, seen into the future of what this guy is intentions. What what is he gonna do?
Yeah. I'll give you more than this guy for that. Whoo. The guy on horseback, his plan is to strike his lance through this one that's kneeling and then go towards that one that's playing cards. 2 easy targets both on the ground. After that, he'll circle back and kill the one that's standing with the head.
Can I see what the guys on the ground are gonna do?
Yes. The one that is, playing cards is looking at playing a pair of kings. The other one with the spear is one instant away from standing and lodging the spear right underneath Guy's ribs so that he can get him in the heart.
Oh. Alright. Aaron is going to try to first, she's gonna grab her, what are these things? An echo bell Yeah. And say to Doran, Doran, he's got a pair of kings. And then I'm gonna hang up.
Oh, no. No.
That extra doesn't take it.
Fucking worth it.
Yes. And then I'm gonna shoot my crossbow.
Fucking awesome.
I'm gonna shoot my crossbow bolt at the one in kneeling in front of Guy.
Okay. Yeah. I guess, just getting peppered with arrows.
Non natural twenty.
That does hit.
Okay. 6 damage. Domanche with a crossbow bolt. Okay.
Guy, you're still looking at this one and kneeling on the ground. Just another arrow slides into it. It doesn't really do much. Like, it doesn't doesn't change his position. Yeah. Just becoming more and more of a porcupine pincushion over time, which brings us to the doll hands. That one guy is undeterred from his path. He's going to stand, try to run you through with a spear. Oh, solid plan. 17 to hit. No, sir. Seriously, what is your AC these days, my friend?
19. Bitch.
His AC is a 1000.
That's insane.
Alright. Dorn.
It's your fault.
Yeah. You gave him Gus. He's wearing Me, though.
Me, though.
Doran, this guy plays a pair of kings, but you knew that coming in. He rolls a 9 for his gaming check. Give me a roll with advantage.
Yes. This is so crazy. He's so dumb.
Forget the rest of this fight.
I am proficient.
Yes. So
Triple advantage. 5 15.
Doran's not super smart. 16.
Okay. Yeah. He plays a pair of kings, and you are holding on to an ace queen pair that, under the context of the game, will actually win you the round 1st. Win you the trick, and win you the game at the same time. Nice. The doll hand bursts into flames. What? He has been vanquished.
Oh, god.
Just out of shame.
Oh, no. He's a dust in the wind, and you see the white rider kind of realign in his path so that he can just go after the 1 spear guy.
These are 2 different shows. Yeah. Awesome.
This is
why I hate playing games with Thor.
This is some animation.
The psychic damage of losing at cards.
The white rider slides by on his horse, coming in at a breakneck pace. Just dips his lance down real quick, this golden tipped lance. God, you see it pierce through the back of this kneeling Dullahan and out through the front. This thing is no more. It explodes into the wind. This courtyard is quiet except for the clomping horse that is backing up to take another rotation, another swing at you, Guy.
Well, great work with those vile Dullahan.
Guy, you see him move out on his white horse. He takes a large wide circle and he seems to be coming back at you with a lance. And he hears that comment and you hear the horse rear back just a little bit. He starts to go kind of, broadside against you so that his horse is moving kind of parallel and it's doing the, like, high stepping thing. Yeah. And so he's just like, we meet again.
Who is that?
It's a friend of yours.
Who am I? I am Peter Lapillus.
Peter?
Lapillus. Yeah.
I didn't catch that, but
Now why are you fine folks joining up with this thing?
He has a name and he's my best friend. Thank you.
Adulaham.
Well, that's not his fault.
I need to be killed.
Excuse me. I step up next to Guy.
Yes, Peter. You will find I have many powerful allies now, much better friends than the last.
See, the horse is kind of high stepping, but it turns again to start walking the other way. Looking at each of you, he says, I wouldn't trust anyone who joins up with a Dullahan. You're an
opportunist. You've, been here for a while and decided to attack the Dullahan now.
I've been hired for a purpose. Track these down. Kill them. And I've killed 6 so far with these additional 3. I'm taking credit for these as well.
I doubt you would have gotten far without your fancy new weaponry, Peter.
A gift. Yes. It's helped me. I won't lie about that.
Whom are you working for?
The king and queen, of course. A small castle. And I ought to warn them that there's more Dullahan than they even expected.
You're gonna stick with us for a while.
Is that right?
Well, we're not gonna let you go talk to them without us there. And, Guy here is not to be touched.
I am a guest of the king here, the king and queen. They called me in specifically to help them deal with their dollar hand problem. So if I go missing, that's a whole kingdom looking for you.
It's not much of a a kingdom, really. It's a very small island.
Yeah. Where are all the people, mister Papillos?
He gives you a big smirk, and he says, Peter Lapillis.
That's what I said.
They call me Zeelas Lapillis.
Oh my god. No. Get out.
My mission is to hunt down aberrations like that. I
think technically he's undead. He's not an aberration.
Fiends. Undead. Those words mean thing. You you know what? Please get off your high horse and, kinda looks down at the horse. I will not.
Look. We all kinda just fought the same creatures here. Maybe we can take a breath and find out if we're maybe not on the opposite side of things.
I will say, you know, it sounds like you have pretty clear directives
Indeed.
Killed Dullahan that are unruly.
Annie Dullahan. Well, let's not talk
about that. What I wanted to ask is, are you aware of anyone named Maisie?
Of course. Maisie the witch in the tower. Yes. Of course.
Can you tell us a bit about her?
Why is she there? Every kingdom has a wizard.
So she's here on her own volition?
Yes. Of course. Lives in the tower over there. Just kinda nods his head.
Can I use my Ganymede to tell if he's lying?
Oh. That. Oh. Oh. Fucking shit.
Yeah. Go ahead. Advantage on perception checks to telephine, basically. So
You roll 1?
No. 23? Yes. So he's lying? He's not lying. Yes. She's she she wants to be here. K. She's the one who I I don't need to tell you anything.
I look over at Guy, kinda signal with my eyes, like, how do you wanna handle this guy?
I think you'll find it better if you cooperate with us.
So it's true then. You really are together, all of you. Pathetic? Pathetic.
Not pathetic. We're pathetic. And I step in front of Guy and I, like, square square off my shoulders and I puff out my chest.
I have a duty to this kingdom. I won't forsake it.
Well, it seems like you're doing your job. All of these Dullahan that were bothering these very few folk are taken care of.
Not all of them. You see the horse rear back?
Man, I just draw my bow back.
Erin is gonna try to tackle Guy to the ground because Erin knows what's coming.
Okay.
I am readying Poppy's hut.
Okay. Great.
You all see the horse rear back. Instead of coming straight for you, he instead turns. He is going down the corridor back towards the keep.
I use, spell. K. Eren tackles Guy.
Hunter's Mark.
Eren, hold on. Give me an athletics check. Guy, give me an athletics check.
I was gonna say, Eren probably doesn't do a good job of checking.
And Guy, you have advantage. Yeah.
I'm bad at athletics. 13.
He did not need advantage.
Is this a saving throw?
Yes. A strength saving throw, I suppose.
23.
K. You all hear this as Eren just runs their body into Guy.
Okay. Eren jumps piggyback onto Guy.
Guy, I thought
he was gonna go for you. I'm sorry.
Doran, what you got? Got?
I'm just gonna use the command spell. And I kinda do it on not even, like, with much intention. Yeah. As he starts running, Doran just says, halt. And, it's a save time.
Yeah. Nat 1. Oh my god.
That that's a fail. Yeah. So, he has to halt based on the spells of attack.
With a nat one, the horse keeps running. Okay. So it
just drops onto the ground.
He just, like, looks back and goes fast and falls to the ground holding his lance.
You're gonna stick around with us for a sec. Okay?
Boy. No. What? What? What are you doing? He landed in the corridor into the squishy moss and mud, so he's all dirty on the ground.
Would someone mind taking that lance?
I'm gonna go for it since I'm right next to him. My He can definitely stop me. There's no spell effect here, but I'm just gonna try to, basically intimidate. Just take the lance from
him. Yep.
15?
Yeah. 3. Okay.
A
little more than 3, but certainly less than 15. Yep. Yeah. You're able to take his lance. He's holding on to the end of it, and you just kinda yank it out of his hands like toddlers fighting over a toy.
Okay. Yeah. It like, it's heavier than Dorn was expecting.
Get that pick. Not right now. That belongs to me, doesn't it? Yes.
We're gonna hold on to it for a sec.
Why don't you just calm down? Well, then give me something of yours. Collateral.
No. With the lance out of his hands, Guy's gonna walk over and lean over him.
Oh, shit. Hello?
Without your fancy little toy, not so big, are we?
Still clad in gold. You wouldn't touch me,
hey? No. But you are going to cooperate with us or things will end even worse than last time. And the guy's gonna flash his eyes and do an intimidation check.
Very well.
I forgot about the gold thing.
11. 17, my friend. Oh. Damn. He he stands to his feet and says, I'll have you now. I am here on behalf of the Gentaglia family. Gentaglia?
Okay. Okay. Okay.
Peter Lapidus and the Gentalia family. Oh, wait.
I am a special guest to these lands. And if you harass me any further, you might just be on the wrong foot with the whole kingdom. So why don't you put that in your pocket and sit on
it? This armor has no pockets.
Well, we certainly didn't intend to harass you. Thank you, by the way, for taking out the hostile Dullahan. And how about you escort us to wherever it was you were going? And after, you know, we, have counsel and everything, you'll get your lance back, and, we can be cordial.
Yes. Bring us to your Gentile family.
The family Gentalia? Gentalia. The royal family.
Yeah. Bring us to them.
Indeed. I shall.
I don't like this guy.
None of us do, Poppy.
This guy sucks, Dorn. You deal with him. Okay?
You're on thin ice.
He mounts back up on his white stallion that come came back for him. When he gets back on it, he's sort of sorely looking over his shoulder back at the lance that you're all carrying, and he leads the way.
All of us have hands on the lance. We're all walking the line together,
except for Guy.
Why not?
You're all moving through this misty corridor with the arched stone ceiling, and you see the ground here is made of crushed gravel intermixed with soaked moss that squishes beneath your feet, but eventually it all becomes a cobblestone path. You can see crates and boxes and wagons and tools laid about. It looks like much of this is in good repair, but just left to wither for some reason. You can see vines reaching down from the bricks in the walls, and all you hear are distant birds here as you're moving through this corridor out into the courtyard. There's just that horse clomping along in front of you, but there's not much conversation to be had.
Lapillus is a little cold to all of you. Good. Passing through that courtyard, you all see an empty village much the same. You can see rustic medieval style housing with some ornate wooden slat roofs, others with moss covered thatch. There seems no signs of battle or disease, but so many things seem to have been left behind. Peter continues to lead on. He looks back every now and then, just kind of like side eyeing your whole group, taking special care to look at Guy every now and again.
Don't worry. We're all still here.
Guy gives him the finger.
You're not to nick anything either on these houses. People still need their things from time to time.
Sure.
Have we seen any people?
There's no people, and we aren't here to steal things.
Well, where are the people?
They're in the castle, of course.
Right.
I wanna use a an interesting feature that I have.
Mhmm.
I have advantage on survival checks to track my favorite enemies, and I have one of my favorite enemies is humans. Okay. So I'm just kinda wondering if I can see if there are signs of where the humans of this place have gone.
The homes are tidy, but they're sparse. So so it's not like they left in a rush or like they were attacked or anything like that. It looks like everyone just kind of moved out at the same time as if an entire neighborhood elected to leave this place. You see empty shops with no inventory. You do see a blacksmith with warm coals and tools in it, and you see a carpenter's hall that's still in use in some way, but you don't see any people, Only footprints you see, the only tracks you see are all going towards the keep.
Okay.
There's nothing but the clomping of hooves as you all approach the castle keep. You see massive double doors made of dark wood and iron that are pushed all the way open and locked in position. You see a crushed velvet rug on the ground beneath you that is spotted with rain damage and dry leaves all about the entryway, and you can see that shimmer and glint of light outlining the sphere of force that encompasses the entire keep here. It's right in front of you. You can all see that same hole in the roof.
You can see these large swaths of moss on the ground and ferns, and you can tell that this is a throne room. This central area to the keep, it's huge. But at the end of the hall, you don't see a throne, you see a castle. A small castle.
Oh my God.
It looks like a perfect version of what the Skyland was always intended to be, with bright, brilliant white towers and vibrant banners hanging down, a massive labyrinthine keep surrounded by a village in a grand promenade. And you see Peter turn back and give a sly little smile, and you take one more step into this throne room, and the world begins to distort rapidly. You feel like you're falling, like the
air is being taken from your lungs and your gear becomes unbearably tight and then suddenly weightless. And when you stop to look around, you see a world of immense proportion. The patches of moss around you are now rolling hills and fields of shrubs, the low ferns an infinite canopy above you. A trickle of rainwater now serves as a central river marking your path to the largest castle that many of you have ever seen.
I don't think this was the type of sphere I thought it was.
And I think we'll end it there. Thank you all very much for listening. I've been Tim, your GM.
I'm Hamlet. Signy Erin.
I'm Tara,
and I'm dirty.
Thomas Nuntai.
I have been John playing Dorn.
Yeah. And I'm Maggie, and I play Poppy Kenmore. And this is the size that I am all the time.
Thanks for no.
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Small castle.