Christopher/GM: Ladies and
gentlemen, boys and girls, and

individuals of all persuasions.

Prepare yourself for a tale as tart and
twisty as a freshly squeezed lemon in

the quaint town of Mantra, nestled amidst
the vast expanse of the Jade Reach.

Our heroes, the Skyfire Pirates, seek a
moment's respite from their escapades.

As fate would have it, their paths
would lead them to an unassuming

tavern, where an unsuspecting damsel
in distress captures their attention.

The damsel in distress, a
time honored trope woven into

the fabric of storytelling.

Yet, this woman defies
simple classification.

Far from being a mere damsel
awaiting rescue, she possesses a

spirited resolve and a spark that
ignites curiosity within her heroes.

Beneath her seemingly fragile
exterior, lies a hidden reservoir

of resilience and fortitude.

A secret treasure guarded
by an intricate lock.

As the plot thickens like a lemon
curd on a summer's day, the true

nature of our damsel emerges.

An ember of defiance grows within
her heart, refusing to be smothered

by the dampening hands of adversity.

When her fate hangs by a thread
as delicate as a lemon zest,

she might just surprise us all.

Defying the expectations that
have tried to shackle her spirit.

In a world of storytelling conventions
where damsels are often meant to

be rescued, one young woman might
hold the key to her own liberation.

And in this world of the Jade
Reach, where magic and danger

intertwine, our heroes find themselves
questioning the roles they play and

the narratives they are woven into.

Fasten your seatbelts and prepare for a
ride at exhilarating and unpredictable

as a rollercoaster through a lemon grove.

So, dear listeners, gather round and
be drawn into a tale, where the damsel

in distress may very well blossom
into the heroine of her own destiny.

And remember, as the tale of the
sky fire its unfurls in mantra, the

skies above hold countless tales of
daring, curiosity, and consequence,

in the vast world of the Jade Reach.

My name is Christopher Rondo.

And welcome to Skyfire, where
mysteries abound and the

unexpected awaits at every turn.

Brad/Yasper: Hi, my name's Brad Wayne
from the Adventurer's Vault, and I play

the Oak Gunslinger Medic, Jasper Klieg.

Hayden/Bilge: Hey, I'm Hayden Avery,
playing the Clockwork Kitsune Magus, Shu.

Christopher/GM: Hello, I'm

Jake/Bilge: Jake.

And

Christopher/GM: I play Bilge,
a Yosogi ranger deckhand.

Brad/Yasper: You know, we were
enjoying quite a fine moment at

the Sunspot, and while I wouldn't
say the tea there is particularly

great, it is the best I have found.

And up till those rapscallions
accosted that poor woman, I feel

like we were having a good time.

But even my hands weren't clean
of the blood we shed that day, and

it was time to get out of there.

I just hope this won't have any
bad repercussions on the crew.

Christopher/GM: Well, guys, I
don't know what to tell you.

Remember that episode we
recorded six months ago?

It's gone.

Oh, no, that's going to be
a bad conversation there.

We have lost episode two.

We recorded it on February 12th, I
think was the day, and we have episode

2 recap, we have episode 3, we have
episode 3 recap, all on the same day.

But episode 2 is just gone, and after
spending about a week trying to talk

with our recording software to pick
it up, it is nowhere to be found.

So instead of just trying to...

Redo that recording.

We are just gonna have a brief brief
discussion about it and see if we can

get on the same page I gotta be honest.

It was definitely one
of the earlier episodes.

I probably could have used some
more re recording anyway But you

know if any episode Went missing.

I'm glad it was that one.

We have episode 3.

I triple checked every episode from here
to episode 2 for the rest of season 1.

I should double check season 2, but
I'm pretty sure we have everything.

But I figure we have three very distinct
sections in my notes that we went

over and I figured I'd just give a
brief recap and see if I can see what

you guys thought about what happened.

If you guys can remember from so
long ago, we recorded this six months

before we actually released our first
episode just to give everyone an idea

of how far ahead we are because I'm I
don't know, it just happened that way.

We started recording early January
2023 and then we released in July.

But, our first section
involved us leaving the inn.

This inn that you guys had a fight
with, you had some moral dilemma.

Shu, immediately was like,
I'm not gonna kill anyone!

And I believe murdered someone
within the same moment.

Uh, Jasper also killing someone,
but sort of unintelligently.

Or unintentionally, sorry.

Um.

No, you were right the first time.

Oh.

Unintentionally, we have Shen and Bilge.

I believe Bilge got the killing
blow on the big, big guy.

And Shen also got a good crit.

I don't remember if he
got a killing blow or not.

And you guys are now taking your
supplies that you originally bought

in this town, and you're heading
back to the Shadowsky Mirror.

And you had some interesting
discussions, mostly on like, What

were the consequences of this fight?

Was it the right thing to do?

Maybe you guys should
have kept your head down.

And, ultimately, you guys tried to
come up with this plan about how to

tell the captain about what happened.

What do you guys remember from all that?

Hayden/Bilge: I feel like I remember
Shu being very apprehensive or

worried about telling the captain.

I feel like that was in there
where Shu was like, I don't

know how much we tell them.

You know, like, we kinda did it.

busted our cover here.

I think Shu ended up being like,
hey, we should tell the captain

because if we don't tell them,
it's only going to get worse.

But I think I remember Shen being
like, I don't know about that one.

I don't remember where
Bilge and Jasper were

Jake/Bilge: on it.

Well, for Bilge, it's,
it's all or nothing.

If everybody's on board with
the lie kind of thing, then

it's still loyalty in a sense.

They're being loyal to each other
and then lying to the captain.

But I think deep down, Bilge
knew someone would tell.

Brad/Yasper: Jasper has gotten,
uh, a little bit used to

telling the captain bad news.

So, he was pretty much, you
know, in mind to do that.

But he thought there might be,
like, a united front which helps

to spread the wrath of the captain.

And then when that little asshole
ran off through the side of the

ship and left the three of us to
bear the brunt of that burden.

Not surprising to Jasper, given
he's been on the ship a bit,

Hayden/Bilge: but...

Christopher/GM: Yeah, he's still shut up.

Okay, so you guys start
climbing the Shadow's Chimera.

We describe this airship,
a little bit about it.

It has these huge, like,
nets on the side, and...

This like zeppelin like balloon
that currently wasn't deployed at

the moment as well as kind of how
tall it was and how wide it was.

I'm certain we'll get to that
description again in a future episode.

But Shen was like the first person to
climb the rope ladder up to the deck.

And then, he rolled a nat 20 on his
stealth check to sneak through a

window while you guys weren't looking.

And he was just gone, as you guys
are carrying up the, up the ladder.

Uh, and then you meet Captain Serenity.

Captain Serenity is a Sovereign.

I guess I should emphasize that Sovereign.

Like, 6'6 has a large single fang.

Battleaxe doesn't seem to wear much armor,
instead of keeping rather simple clothing.

Something more practical for a sailor.

Normally I think when you think of
captains, maybe you think of a little more

adorned with metal and certifications.

Or if you're thinking
pirates, like jewelry.

She held herself simply.

And you guys began to talk
about, talk to her about it.

She was pretty angry
about the whole situation.

There was a scene I specifically remember
where the first mates, you also met

a kobold named Xiu Long, pushed a...

Like, dummy in the middle of the deck,
as you guys were talking, and she

swung her single fanged axe right at
the dummy, cleaving it in half, and

then seemed to subside her anger long
enough to continue the conversation.

You guys remember any of that?

I remember!

Hayden/Bilge: Oh yeah, I remember.

That was, that was the I'm glad
it's not, I'm glad it's the dummy,

not me kind of moment where you're

Christopher/GM: like, ah, shit.

I tried to portray Captain
Serenity as pretty understanding,

but also pretty frustrated.

I don't know if that came across very
well, but there was, like, she was

angry, but I tried to make sure her
anger wasn't directed at the party for

doing something probably correct, right?

I, I think we can always argue
about the moral consequences

of getting involved or not.

But, it was never about
making the decision.

It was just about the
results of the decision.

Brad/Yasper: Well, art reflects
life in that a good deed is always

Christopher/GM: punished.

Jake/Bilge: In terms of the captain
for Bilge, I remember from, from the

beginning the idea of their relationship
always being a respectful one.

But Bilge is no trouble,
or no stranger to trouble.

And, he probably...

You know, crosses that line
here and there, but always

in the name of a good fight.

And if the fight happens to be
on the moral side, even better.

More justification.

Hayden/Bilge: Feeling that this
is really hard to remember.

This is a long time ago.

I have a vague remembrance of Shoe Beans
of getting, like, keelhauled at this

point, depending on how the captain
reacted, but yeah, I think he did

well to show that the captain wasn't.

Wasn't looking to.

To punish us for, for
intervening, necessarily.

Brad/Yasper: It was a very, like,
Inglourious Bastards moment, where

it was like, Nah, I won't get shot.

I'll probably get yelled at.

I've been yelled at

Christopher/GM: before.

Yeah.

From here, we patched up wounds, we...

I guess a better word is
we relaxed a little bit.

We unloaded, we had a couple scenes
with some NPCs that I don't recall

being particularly important.

They were just sort of
introductions of characters.

But we ended the episode with you guys
noticing the fire in the distance.

Episode one ended with the antagonist
of this particular season ordering that

this town of Mancha being burned down.

I don't remember if I named the NPC
so I will not, I will not name him.

In this particular discussion, but
you ordered it to be burned down, and

we began to see the result of that.

It is now well into night, and you guys
notice fire and smoke in the distance.

And, we were also missing
some crew members.

I believe the group was...

Episode 3, I believe, starts with the
group already heading in that direction.

Do you guys remember the thought
process about, like, deciding

to have the call to action here?

I don't

Hayden/Bilge: think there
was a thought process.

I think I remember very
clearly what happened.

Go for it.

I think Shu just went, I'm going down the
rope ladder and running into the village.

I'm pretty sure that's how it went.

Sounds about right.

Yeah, I think you were like, and
you see a fire and I was like, oh,

Shu's down the rope, we're going.

I don't know there was much of
a thought process, honestly.

Christopher/GM: Shu's down
the rope, we're going.

Brad/Yasper: Eschewing a plan because Shu
ran off tends to be a theme we develop.

Hayden/Bilge: Really?

Crazy how that works.

Spoiler

Brad/Yasper: alert for

Hayden/Bilge: the rest of the show.

Christopher/GM: Pretty much.

Yeah.

Of note, this episode was 47
minutes and I feel like we

haven't talked about very much.

So maybe that just goes to show about
how we were kind of dragging our

feet within the earlier episodes.

We kind of saw it in episode
one and we kind of see in

episode three ever so slightly.

But I think episode two was really
slow in our pacing because we were

describing every NPC and whatnot.

But we were introduced to four
more characters within this, within

this story, within this episode.

We met Captain Serenity, we met Shillong,
who is a magma kobold, has these black

scales and has these like red lava
accents within his veins, whenever

you can see underneath his scales.

He has a, I don't want to call
it a familiar, but supposedly

sometime in the crew's history.

He.

accidentally summoned a, a peach plant
that grew legs and started walking around.

So we also met the NPC Peachy who is
a leshy bard who cannot talk but can

play music and throughout the entire
argument Peachy was just playing

music in the background subtly.

And then we met Shackles.

Shackles is a skeleton, and Shackles
acts as like a historian of some sort.

So anytime anyone has any questions about
history or whatnot, you talk to Shackles.

Shackles doesn't know their
life before their death.

So, trying to work with Shackles.

I don't I don't think we got a very
good beat on Shackles, but I don't know

if the party realized how to interact
with them yet, as far as like the

group trying to determine what does
a peach plant and a skeleton really

have anything to do with our rather
humanoid party, but they were there.

Do you guys have any initial reactions?

I guess we talked about
Captain Serendia already.

Do you have any initial reactions to...

Shalong, Shackles, or Peachy.

I know that,

Brad/Yasper: you know, Jasper's
been on the crew for a little bit.

But he has kind of always felt like a
little better being the ship's medic.

Like, you have to have a little
bit of detachment there, you know.

But, uh, he tends to
enjoy Peachy's company.

Because a lot of social
awkwardness is just ignored.

And they tend to play music together.

I don't remember if there was a scene
or I don't think we've established

ever a scene, but like, Jasper
likes to pull out his gnollish.

And he and Peachy play music.

I don't remember what
Peachy plays, though.

It's, it's...

Christopher/GM: I don't
remember the instrument.

It's a lute.

Like, a lute of appropriate size.

Hayden/Bilge: I don't think
that Shu really had all that

much interaction with them.

Christopher/GM: Not this episode.

Yeah, no.

I guess, let's, let's
rephrase the question.

What do you think about these characters?

Just, like, their introduction of them,
not maybe less about how you guys Oh yeah,

Hayden/Bilge: I think, I think Shackles
was always an interesting one for

me because, you know, the un, you
know, the undead companion is always

an interesting thing to explore.

You know, you see it in video
games and in movies and stuff.

So that one I was
definitely interested in.

Everyone likes a little animal companion.

Even though Leshy's a plant, but
basically he's an animal companion.

I do

Brad/Yasper: remember with
Shackles, there was a lot of talk

about the buddy in the backpack.

Like, like we just

Hayden/Bilge: have him in a backpack.

Yeah, stuff him, stuff him in a
backpack and just take him into town.

And

Brad/Yasper: when we like run into
trouble, we just dump the bones out.

They coalesce and then...

Christopher/GM: Yeah, they
have the collapse ability.

I specifically chose the collapse ability
because I thought it would be funny.

I really like the trope where the animal
companion is the smartest person in

the in the party, but they just don't
have the language to communicate that.

I think like Lavitar Lavitar?

Avatar blast airbender.

Pokemon 2, Avatar the Last Airbender,
you know, Appa and Momo, the, the

two animal companions are definitely
the smartest people in that party.

But, you know, they did not have
the, the verbs to be able to say

that, so I think Peachy fills in
that trope for me a lot of the time.

And as we play more games and
campaigns together, we'll probably

see that trope continue on.

I do, I do think in an audio

Brad/Yasper: format it's a
little harder to make that sell.

We haven't had that many scenes
with Peachy yet, so there's, there's

Christopher/GM: time.

Nope, but we are about to record season 2.

5, so we will see a little more of
all the companions taking a little

more active role moving forward
within those first few episodes.

But with that, sorry we lost the episode.

Not much we can do about it.

We decided not to re record it, though
that conversation floated around.

Hopefully this will kind of catch
you up as you go into episode three

and see why the plot jumps a little
bit going from one scene to another.

But besides that, enjoy episode three.

If you are listening, please
join us in booing Chris.

Hayden/Bilge: Taking the chance to escape,
we all ran from the bar towards the ship.

Clearing our heads, we got to discussing
how to break it to the captain.

Sadly, Bilge informed us
that we didn't just kill any.

ruffians.

We killed a notorious group of ruffians.

As one could guess, the
captain did not take that well.

Of course, she couldn't stay mad
long when, from the ship, Bilge

spotted fire in the city below.

She didn't hesitate to give the order.

Save the

Christopher/GM: crewmates.

You guys exit the shadows, Chimera.

Finding a target to run to.

You saw that flashbang in the distance,
knowing that perhaps Rowan is in danger,

Rowan being a gun user like Jasper.

Shu's already maybe 60, 80 feet
in front of Bilge and Jasper,

but it's easy to catch up.

What would you like to
do as you're running?

Hayden/Bilge: Shu is running straight
for the center of town, basically right

where the fire is, giving no care to
what they're actually looking for.

Christopher/GM: Shoo!

Shoo!

Brad/Yasper: To the right!

Trust

Hayden/Bilge: me!

Alright, got it!

Try to keep up!

And Shoo's going to run to the
right, where Bilge said, and

just kind of keep sprinting.

That's

Christopher/GM: better.

Shu you veer your course into the forest
C-section, taking the less optimal route

off the road following Bilges direction.

And as you go through, we see that
we have the moonlight and some

stars providing enough lighting for
you to see everything around you.

Thanks to your low light vision.

You run into face into an encounter.

In the distance you see Heian a.

Blue, tiger esque, cat folk creature.

One of your crewmates.

She acts as your navigator.

On her side, seemingly in a lot of pain.

Next to her are several...

Townsmen and women, uh, primarily gnolls
that have been pushed into a corner.

Next to them are five gnolls wearing
this blue bandana with this eye on top

of their left arm as they are preparing
to circle around Your companion Rowan.

Rowan has taken off his
cloak at this point.

In his hand is this large
sword that's at a slight slant.

Almost like he is holding
this gun as a pistol.

And within the hilt is that trigger.

Mechanism as he prepares to
charge in five versus one, but

even he could get overwhelmed.

Hayden/Bilge: You will run directly
up, kind of right in front of

Rowan to stop him from charging
in heroically, so to speak.

Christopher/GM: I think that, if
any, is the call for initiative

because he's already running
in, he's getting surrounded.

Maybe you can get there before
combat starts, maybe you can't, but

this will be athletics initiative.

It would be a

Hayden/Bilge: 27.

That's almost max.

That's one off of max,

Christopher/GM: so.

26 plus.

27.

21 to 25.

16 to 20.

Check.

19.

18.

Shu, you're up first.

Hayden/Bilge: Right, so Shu
sees Rowan going to charge in.

Very heroic as Rowan might think,
but Shu dashes up by using two

movement actions to cut him off.

Kind of holding a hand behind themselves,
and then pulling up a well of energy

in front of them as they cast shield.

Looking back, they just say,
What do you think you're doing?

Christopher/GM: Rowan doesn't get much
to say before two gnolls move forward.

Now, there are two sets of gnolls here.

One seems to be in heavier armor,
wearing a form of scale mail.

holding a short sword of some sort.

The other ones seem to prefer
leather and holding daggers.

These people are different.

These gnolls are different than the
people you fought earlier tonight.

These people walk towards Rowan
and Shu in a formation, ready

to work as a team, as a unit.

rather than individual people,
as since Shu has managed to cut

off their approach to Rowan, they
are going to move towards Shu.

Two of them will begin to move
forward, trying to surround Shu.

One of them is going to be able to
approach and take an attack with

Shu at full AAC, but Shu will be
flat footed to the second one.

Hit me.

20 to hit on the first one.

Hayden/Bilge: That hits.

That definitely

Christopher/GM: hits.

And a crit on my flat footed one.

Ooh,

Hayden/Bilge: that, that, you know what,
that one, that one doesn't hit, actually.

Christopher/GM: You're going to take
five points of damage on the first hit.

But the second hit, there is,
because of their tactic, Shu

is caught in a sneak attack.

Hayden/Bilge: Ooh, we're gonna,
we're gonna block that first one.

It's gonna shatter the shield.

But I'm not gonna take any damage.

Christopher/GM: You're going to
take 18 damage from the second hit.

Hayden/Bilge: Oof, ouch,
not the bonehurt juice.

Christopher/GM: They are
very hurt from this attack.

Would you consider yourself bloodied?

Hayden/Bilge: I'm critical if you
wanna, if you want to get technical.

When I said the bone hurt juice, I wasn't

Christopher/GM: lying.

Jasper, you are next to act.

Brad/Yasper: Jasper is of course
watching Shu, who is headstrong

and reckless always, running off
and is attempting to catch up.

But the very, like, millisecond he
realizes We're in a fight a gun appears

in his hand almost as if like Jasper
is just that fast He doesn't even have

to waste an action to get the gun out.

So he's going to run up.

I Hold on.

That's 25.

That's another 20 so he's
gonna double move up.

He's gonna be about 15 feet away from the
prestigious peon one of the guys that's

flanking shoe and he's just gonna let mrs
Locke go And we're going to take a shot.

Nat 3.

So that's a 14.

Christopher/GM: I want to remind the
party that at this point you have

three hero points and one action point.

Brad/Yasper: I think, I
think I'm going to re roll.

I'm going to use one.

Shu is already surrounded
and is getting crit.

So it would be pretty great if I
could shoot one of them with a bullet.

So we

Christopher/GM: could roll another Nat 3.

Hayden/Bilge: I'll start, I'll
start another character sheet.

I got like five on the back burner here.

Yeah, that'd be,

Brad/Yasper: that'd be good, thanks.

Jasper is like, you're very brave when
you're outnumbering your friends, but

now we're here and just like a bullet
goes flying off in the distance.

Christopher/GM: It's intimidating.

Brad/Yasper: Jasper just
looks kind of, kind of sad and

Christopher/GM: shameful.

Bilge, you're up.

Not looking good.

Bilge takes two

Jake/Bilge: strides, goes a little
bit past Jasper and puts his back to

Christopher/GM: this rock.

He

Jake/Bilge: knows that life
is on the line, but he's got

to make the right choice.

So he actually reaches into his
pack, and instead of drawing a

blade, he draws a health potion.

And THEN he draws a blade.

But that is all of

Christopher/GM: his actions.

I sh Shu runs in, semi scolding
Rowan, and conveniently getting

stabbed right after that.

Rowan shakes his head
Look, Rowan distracted

Hayden/Bilge: me.

Sure.

Christopher/GM: Sure, man.

If you say so.

Rowan takes his gun blade, and is going
to hit The prestigious peon, the one

that Jasper missed on for a 25 to hit,
and will take a second action to release

the gun, gun mechanism within the blade.

Also hitting.

Doing 10 damage with the blade and
4 damage with the bullet, this one

begins to fall backwards, heavily
injured, and shocked by the...

effect of the attack.

One of these attacks is something
called a combat assessment.

When I make a melee strike, I can
attempt a recall knowledge check.

And as he does this, he see, he sees how
they parry the, the attacks, how he can

lend openings and gain some information.

His third action is going to be to reload.

The rest of these gnolls
are going to move forward.

Uh, one of them is going to run towards
Rowan, taking two actions to move and

one action to strike and will miss.

Another one, poor Shu, is going to
run to Shu for two actions as well

and try to attack with the dagger.

Also miss.

At least I'm not flat footed.

And this last one will approach, and this
last one is a heavier set scaled male

man, holding this large, large sword,
and will attempt to slice, 19 to hit.

That hits.

You're

Hayden/Bilge: gonna take You should go

Christopher/GM: down.

Three damage.

Hayden/Bilge: Very

Christopher/GM: close, very close.

But, but, this is a snagging strike.

Which means that he is actually going
to take his other hand, he's gonna

hold you down, and you are flat footed
until the start of his next turn.

He can certainly try.

As this happens, Shu finds himself
surrounded, stabbed a couple

times, hit with a short sword.

Everyone's trying to get into position.

Rowan lets off a strike and a
gunshot as he turns to Shu and

goes like, Listen, this is a common
tactic in Lakotia's military.

These larger, heavy armored ones are
gonna try to hold you down and give

openings to the rest of the people.

Get out of there.

I

Hayden/Bilge: think at this
point, Shu, you know...

Shu's probably being beaten up,
just punched, kicked, you know,

knocked over and over again.

And they're trying to block what they can,
but at some point, they just look at the,

the person holding them down, and they
just try to kick with all their might.

And they are going to spell
strike a hydraulic push here.

I got a bad, I got bad
news for you, Chris.

What's up?

So a 19 on the die.

With a plus nine.

Oh, here we go.

Do the math, right?

so that's a

So, yeah a 28 to hit I believe that
crits as Shoe on their back just

being beaten down with all their
might kicks forward and you see

this the water That's on the ground.

Just push with them as it sends The
Gangster Gnoll flying 10 feet back, taking

a total, Jesus that's a lot of damage.

This is the 66 one.

Let me just, I gotta, I
gotta roll real quick.

In total, 31 bludgeoning damage, and he's
sent flying back 10 feet, as, as Shu kicks

Christopher/GM: him off.

He is still alive, but He's still alive,

Hayden/Bilge: oof.

Brad/Yasper: Oh no, that's, that's

Hayden/Bilge: rough.

Shu taking That's rough.

Yeah, Shu taking Rowan's advice.

You see Shu look to the left, look like
they're about to punch the peaceful Pion,

as they blink out of view for a second.

Reappearing behind the prestigious Peon.

Their punch continues and
connects with a 24 to hit.

Dealing only, oh only, 10 bludgeoning
damage to the one that was hit before.

Describe the kill.

After sending the gangster gnoll
flying 10 feet back, Shu looks to the

left at the peaceful Peon and goes to
form one of the strikes towards them.

In a blink, they flash out of view and
reappear behind the prestigious peon.

They're punched continuing right into the
spine of the prestigious peon with this,

just, crack as they just push their hand
through and knock them to the ground.

Breathing heavily, they look
around hoping to dodge everyone's

attention for a little bit.

And that is the end of their turn.

Christopher/GM: Well, because of
your teleportation, the one who was

looking to stab you realizes that
you are no longer in a place to deal

and is actually going to follow.

Follow your movement.

Stepping over his now fallen
companion will move here.

However, Rowan is a fighter, and this
will trigger an attack of opportunity.

Hayden/Bilge: Please, Rowan.

Please, Rowan.

That would be a cri
Rowan, let's go, please.

Nice job.

I believe

Christopher/GM: that stops him.

Yeah, well, it might just kill him.

I just

Hayden/Bilge: I believe that stops him!

Well, it might just kill him.

That works too, Chris.

Brad/Yasper: DM DMPCs are always,
you know, really overpowered.

But

Christopher/GM: we're still going to,
uh, swing that, that blade towards

him, stopping him in his tracks
as soon as he moves right around,

dealing a fair amount of, of damage.

Not enough to die, unfortunately.

Enough for him to decide not to attack
shoot and instead focus his efforts there.

So he's gonna take a 5 foot step to
catch Rowan flat footed and will roll

a 22 hit which will make contact and
catch him with a sneak attack as well.

Dealing a fair amount of damage there.

This takes us to Jasper.

Seeing this

Brad/Yasper: is all unfolding very
fast, and Shu is already injured,

Jasper's gonna take a five foot step
in, and slap a custom bandage on Shu,

and attempt to make a medicine check.

A battle medicine check.

Jesus Christ with this.

And just misses completely

Hayden/Bilge: with it.

Shu, thinking that you're an
enemy, dodges the bandage.

Brad/Yasper: No, I am trying to help you!

But with his last action,
he's gonna quickdraw.

And for the first time we see...

Mr.

Flint and Mrs.

Locke out.

And because I am super Dexy, while I'm
pulling that gun, I'm going to shoot it.

And we're going to try to hit, oh, the
peaceful peon that's flanking Rowan.

Now that is a 25, which
will just hit, I believe.

So for max damage, seven.

Jesper is completely focused on
trying to heal Shu from the damage,

but almost without thinking that
other pistol snaps up out of its

holster and just blows the guy away.

And it almost doesn't even register to
Jasper that he's killed another guy.

Come a long way.

Wha what?

Oh, oh, goodness.

Ha

Christopher/GM: ha ha ha ha!

Ha ha ha ha!

Bilge admires

Jake/Bilge: the work of Mr.

Jasper.

Rushes forward to help Rowan.

Takes his blade to the pivotal pion.

First to the inside of his right leg.

And then the left.

And then Bilge kind of sets up
straight and takes a step back

and gestures for the man to try to

Christopher/GM: walk towards

Jake/Bilge: him.

And as he does, he falls.

He can't walk.

Bilge has cut him in a way that
he just falls over, lays down,

Christopher/GM: and begins to bleed out.

That's fucking

Hayden/Bilge: dark, bro.

Alright.

I broke a man's spine.

I guess I can't really talk.

Christopher/GM: Rowan
sees Bilge running up.

Next to him to commit this act of
murder, but we'll take, take advantage

of the situation and we'll take a
stride action as his first thing.

But he gets caught in the same thing
as, as he caught the other guy with

an attack of opportunity, which will
hit, uh, and he'll take a brief amount

of, a brief, a minor amount of damage,
since I rolled very low on the dice.

And, but he is in a position at this
point to catch this guy's flank footed.

And as he does this, he's actually
going for two melee strikes as

opposed to his normal gun thing.

And he hits with the side of
the as opposed to the main part.

He's going to hit with the first
one, but the second one is going to

be ducked and dodged out of the way.

Quite potentially because he
took the minus two lethal.

As he does this he sees a little bit in
pain from the attacks as this one, the

one that Shu pushed away, this one's
going to look for revenge and try to get

right up to Shu with one action and we are
going to attempt a snagging strike for a

miss on the first attack but the second
attack will hit for a 20 I am assuming.

Yeah, so 20 does hit.

As he does this, he is going to grab your
shoulder, catch you flat footed, and roll.

Max damage, unfortunately.

Which, as he does this, yeah.

He takes your, holds your left robotic
hand, squeezes it, and forces you to put

your own weight on his short sword blade.

And kicks you off, and so
you fall to the ground.

This one in between Bilge
and Rowan is going to look...

Towards, towards Rowan who seems to
be the bigger threat at the moment,

since it's the one attacking him.

We'll take three attacks and hit
the third one of all, all ones

for a fair amount of damage.

Rowan's not looking great either.

Shall we say single digits for Rowan.

But as, as this encounter's going,
he's like, This one here, keep

it alive, kill the other one.

And takes us to...

Jasper.

Brad/Yasper: Jesper's cursing that
he couldn't get that patch on Shu

as they fall to the ground, but he's
gonna make another attempt at it.

To do battle medicine.

Since I failed, I can do it again.

Wow, lucky me!

You actually have to succeed it.

You have to succeed at battle
medicine before you can't do it again.

Well, he can't dodge it this time.

Hot damn, though.

He slaps that patch on
your chest for a lovely...

it's five.

You're

Hayden/Bilge: lovely, that's five.

I'm gonna

Christopher/GM: recommend
the Assurance Feat.

Jake/Bilge: I was...

Brad/Yasper: My feats
are already quite taxed.

Let me show you what I took.

And I'm going to use one of those feats,
which allows me to do another battle

medicine check once per day, on Shu.

We're gonna gamble here though,
because then we're gonna do risky

surgery, so you're gonna take...

I go down again!

Six points of damage, which,
unfortunately, you go down again.

Oh my god, okay, I'm going to
spend another one of those points

because I just rolled a nat 1.

Christopher/GM: You're
wounded too, by the way.

Brad/Yasper: I know, okay, okay, but that,
but that, that works, which will be the

Hayden/Bilge: 2d8 plus 10.

So that would be 25 points.

You know what?

That makes everything better.

It's everything better.

It's it's real.

Brad/Yasper: It's real give or take, but
he's looking at the guy that stabbed you.

It was like, I'll be with you in a moment.

And we see Jasper take one of the pistols
and crack it open and like reloads.

And that's all he can do that turn.

I thought you

Christopher/GM: killed your party members.

That

Hayden/Bilge: was, that was pretty close.

It

Brad/Yasper: it's called, it would
have, I think it would have, right?

Hayden/Bilge: Well, yeah, I
would have been wounded three.

Christopher/GM: Yes,
you are wounded too now.

Ah, you're fine.

I am wounded too.

You are prone.

That's exciting.

Damn.

Bilge.

Brad/Yasper: Listen, it's a real...

We're all learning.

We're coming together.

You know

Hayden/Bilge: when you break your
arm and the doctor needs to reset it?

That's what Jasper just did to me.

Put your

Christopher/GM: arms

Hayden/Bilge: up with your wife.

Jasper's like, oh, one second.

It just knocks me out.

You're too alive.

I gotta reset you.

Jasper has trouble with your weird robo

Christopher/GM: bottom.

Oh, Bilge, would you like to
take control of the situation?

Please?

Jake/Bilge: Yes, let's see if Bilge
can buy us some reassurance here.

And he's going to turn his attention to
the gangster gnoll standing over Shue.

And he is going to hunt him with his
hunted prey action and make a series

of slashes with his short sword.

In hopes of, well, to
be honest, end his life.

Ooh, natural one.

Now, this is not in character for
Bilge, so I will use my hero point.

Christopher/GM: It's not in character to

Jake/Bilge: miss?

He hasn't missed yet.

Actually, I don't, I don't
know, I don't remember.

But, I'm gonna use the point nonetheless.

Excellent.

Mark that off.

Okay, so now he will miss.

But, it's not a natural one.

He, he goes for the inside of the leg,
but the gnoll was paying attention

when Bilge killed his friend, so he
just steps slightly out of the way.

And that makes most people angry, but
Bilge, he actually likes it, that he

paid attention, that he's a tactician.

Makes Bilge smile.

And then Bilge runs that short
sword across the gnoll's back.

Christopher/GM: Gets real deep.

Jake/Bilge: For a total
of ten slashing damage.

And this

Christopher/GM: one goes down as well.

Brad/Yasper: There

Christopher/GM: we go.

Make it

Brad/Yasper: rain.

There are times I admire
your work as well, Mr.

Bilge.

Jake/Bilge: I have one action left.

Unless a hero point takes an action.

Okay.

I will attempt.

I'm going to drop my items in hand
and attempt to grapple the last

combatant because Rowan has said
to leave him alive, for a total of

Christopher/GM: twelve.

It's just too large, right?

Like, you're unable to like,
get your hands around his, his

body in a, in a productive way.

But that will, that will end your turn.

It, it is very,

Jake/Bilge: it is very easily, you know,
visually to see that Bilge is not...

You know, a grappler.

He's not a wrestler.

He might be stronger, more well built
than other Yusoki, but wrestling is not

Christopher/GM: his thing.

Well, it's enough for Rowan
to take advantage of the brief

distraction as he goes for Brogue.

His first strike is going to be
something called a United Strike.

Which means he gets a plus one to damage,
uh, for every ally that's around him.

So he's just going to do that first, he
will hit for a fair amount of damage,

and then the second strike will miss
and the th er, third strike will hit.

Not quite enough to bring this one
down, but it's clearly hitting with the

flats of the blade, trying to do the At

Hayden/Bilge: this
point, Shu's pretty mad.

I mean, they, they went for killing,
just to clarify, when they got crit,

that's when they started saying, alright,
all cuffs are off, we're killing.

At this point, they'll kip up, not
the, sorry, not the feet, they just

do that, use an action to stand
up, and move next to Bilge, and...

They will take just one very
calculated kind of a roundhouse

kick towards the gnoll's head for
a 17 to hit, I believe that just

Christopher/GM: meets.

That just misses actually.

Hayden/Bilge: Oh my god, alright.

They go to do a roundhouse
kick and the gnoll dodges low.

I believe that is all three actions.

Christopher/GM: So, with that being
said, this one here realizes that

he is beat, is going to try to
run, provoking an attack from...

Rowan.

Non lethal again.

Plus 10 is 22, minus 2.

So, provoking from Rowan, and Rowan just
quickly hits him behind his knee, and

kicks him in the head as he goes down,
knocking this guy conscious combat over.

As combat ends, Rowan looks towards
Jasper, he's like, Go check those

townspeople, see if they need help.

That

Brad/Yasper: is a command
Jasper has no trouble following

as he goes to check on them.

To see if anyone's wounded.

Christopher/GM: Okay, Roland's gonna
look towards both, he's like, Hugh, find

out what you can get out of this one.

And he hands you a healing potion.

For the gnoll.

With pleasure.

Brad/Yasper: Wait, don't
waste that, we could use that,

I'll try the healing potion.

Did

Jake/Bilge: you, yeah.

Why'd you do that risky thing?

Christopher/GM: Did you say you Uh oh.

And Roland will approach
Hugh, he's like, You okay?

Hayden/Bilge: I'm better than you would
have been had you rushed in there.

Irony.

Irony is lost on you,

Christopher/GM: okay?

Because of

Hayden/Bilge: iron?

Yeah, true, they're made of it.

Christopher/GM: Listen, watch
your back, take it easy, go back

to the ship, and bandage up.

We'll finish you.

Hayden/Bilge: Rowan, I'm fine.

I, I swear, the, the doc...

Yeah.

Doc patched me all up.

And the, you now see there's
some blood on their, on the paw

of their, the fur of their paw.

As they kind of, kind of
flick their hand away.

They, they eye Rowan and say, Okay,
okay, I'll, I'll just rest over here.

And they wander this way.

To, to try to sit down and, Not,
not follow Rowan, they don't want

to follow Rowan's orders to leave.

Christopher/GM: Rowan will also turn
around and be like, Bilge, not here,

do it away from the talonsfolk.

Oh, sorry.

Hayden/Bilge: Bilge just got
the knife like, like right here.

Brad/Yasper: He's pulled out a
phone book, some bamboo shoots,

Christopher/GM: lemons.

And let's take Asper first.

Yasper, I know we joked about you
doing non magical healing on the gnoll.

Are you, are you going to
follow Bilge or are you going

to go towards the talonsfolk?

Yeah, it's

Brad/Yasper: more joking that
we're about to waste a...

Very valuable resource, but no, he's going
to go check on the townsfolk, because

he knows they're scared from what just

Christopher/GM: happened.

So, one of the things you were kind
of wondering about, or maybe you

weren't, maybe you're distracted, One
of the things I tried to insinuate

was, why didn't they run away?

And you take a look as you step down
to a slightly lower elevation to

a small clearing, you realize that
All six or seven of them are tied

and manacled and chained together.

And as you approach, you realize they're
chained to a stake in the ground.

They seem to be fairly injured,
mostly by burn marks, some cut wounds.

Your companion is here as well.

She's a blue skinned tiger.

She has this braided fur down on her mane.

She has all sorts of different
jewelry on her hands and arms,

and she is also fairly injured.

But no one is in deathly condition.

Most of them are just kind of fused in.

Some of them are gagged,
a lot of them are crying.

It's a pretty bad situation.

Brad/Yasper: Why hell yeah, I see
you have acquired some new jewelry.

Give us some give me a moment and I
can probably do something about that.

The first thing I'm gonna try to do though
is take that stake out of the ground.

That's like the linchpin
of this whole thing.

Christopher/GM: Yeah, I think with
with enough time, like over 30

seconds or so, he can I'm going to,

Brad/Yasper: we don't, I don't have a key
on me, I'm just for giggles, I'm going

to do a thievery check on maybe Hellion's

Christopher/GM: manacles.

Do you have, uh, thieves tools?

Brad/Yasper: So, he's, Jasper realizes
that he doesn't have thieves tools

on him, so he's just going to be
like, alright, well this is not my

forte, short of, and looks down at his
guns, why don't I just try to patch

Christopher/GM: y'all up?

Fair enough.

You can take the, you can
take the minus two, so I think

you can do thievery checks.

Without a thieves tools
check with a minus two.

Man,

Brad/Yasper: that would
like cut the number in half

Hayden/Bilge: though.

Christopher/GM: Yeah, okay.

So, medicine, medicine, medicine

Hayden/Bilge: checks.

You want to just drag all of them

Brad/Yasper: over here?

Yeah, yeah, let's, let's
stick this way everyone.

Single file.

Christopher/GM: You'll probably
at least pull the gags out

pretty quickly I would imagine.

Or they would probably do it themselves.

Yeah, yeah.

Free from the stake in the ground.

Hellion looks like, they, they're
burning down the whole town.

It's

Brad/Yasper: we we no risk on the
way in this is this has not been

a good day for this town Oh, it's

Christopher/GM: just why why

Brad/Yasper: it's it's got to be more than
just a bar fight that there has to be more

to what's going on Here, I'll tell you

Christopher/GM: later Listen, they're
they're taking some of the townsfolk

as well some form of retribution
they're looking for a a Bar wench or

some sort saying She started all this?

Huh,

Brad/Yasper: well that must have been
a very important lady at the bar, but

We had an altercation earlier where
they were assaulting a woman and we

intervened and killed a few of them.

So I Feel we are

Christopher/GM: a tiny pebble.

So this is your fault.

I sure hope

Brad/Yasper: not but it's looking that

Christopher/GM: way.

Okay, okay Okay, just get
me out of these things.

I'll get these townspeople to
safety and You, you figure,

like, you do medicine, I guess.

Alright, get me out.

Struggling against the manacles.

Brad/Yasper: Here, let's, let's
all take a walk over the shoe.

Hayden/Bilge: As you, uh, start to drag
a group of manacled people over, uh, you

see Shu at this point is, is kinda...

Feeling a little bit better.

That salve you gave, really doing work.

Uh, they lean up from the stone that
you, that they were propped up to.

They walk over to the group of people with
manacles and start taking out some tools.

And they say, Oh, don't worry, I will
have you all out in just a few minutes.

As they roll.

How many rolls do you want for this?

How many manacles?

Oh, just one.

Just one.

As they roll, a 19 to start
unlocking the manacles.

They have thieves tools, by the way.

Christopher/GM: They are able to slowly
go from one, one manacle to another.

We'll say over the course of five
minutes, you're able to get everyone

free, but just assume it takes some
time cause there's seven people

here and it's like arms and feet.

So.

Yeah, and as that scene moves, moves
forward, there's another scene in a,

behind a several trees and bushes,
as Bilge is dragging this gnoll

body to the side, holding a potion

Jake/Bilge: in hand.

Bilge gets Mr.

Gnoll.

In an obscure location.

Ties him up.

And with a dagger in hand, he administers
the health potion Rowan gave him.

And waits for the gnoll to come too.

To realize the predicament

Christopher/GM: they're in.

WAKEY WAKEY This gnoll still has that
blue bandana on the left side of his arm.

His armor.

Is less intact as some of the scales
have come off, particularly from both

the dragging as well as the encounter.

He is missing a couple of teeth, he
has some scarring from both the gun

blade and the other attacks he endured.

But he sits there and he just
starts gurgling up and spits out

a bit of blood on the ground.

Sing to me your sweet song
of truth, or the first

Jake/Bilge: dagger...

Goes in your

Christopher/GM: boot.

Go ahead and roll the intimidation check.

Absolutely.

Yeah, I got a little carried

Jake/Bilge: away there, didn't I?

Sixteen, though.

Christopher/GM: He shakes a little bit.

It's like, just let me go.

Let me go and I'll tell you what you want.

Tell me first.

What's there to talk about?

Jake/Bilge: Bilge first
points to the armband.

Who are you?

Christopher/GM: What are you doing here?

Um, I...

You can call me...

You can call me Boneeater.

We're soldiers of Lakotia.

Well, we were.

And we were discharged.

Well, some of us left.

But our leader was discharged.

And there's even a bounty on his head.

They say he murdered somebody.

And while he murders a lot
of people, he always takes

credit for the people he kills.

This murder was off the
books and was not true.

So we, we, we left.

Before they could arrest us.

What are you doing with hostages?

Look, there was an incident earlier today.

I was told to burn down the place.

Or, someone else was
burning down the tavern.

And then letting the fire spread.

And we were supposed to take people as...

I, I, I don't, I don't know what
we were going to do with them.

I think they were looking
for one in particular.

A no woman bar, barkeep.

We're just taking everyone and
maybe they would work for us.

We have a lot of expanding to
do or maybe they'll join us.

I, I don't know one eyed
Morik's real intent here.

Say Morik?

Yeah, Morik.

I'll put it in the description.

Where's one eye now?

He's maybe five miles north of the town.

He has a outpost that we have
been building from wood and stuff.

Don't don't.

I would imagine he'd be there.

He didn't come on the raid.

What's so important about the woman?

Well, I know.

I don't know.

He's angry.

He's angry 'cause he was slighted and
he is taking his anger out on this town.

Because he feels that this town
has slighted him, or his, his men.

Reckless, too.

Reckless.

He's also trying to draw out some
people, you maybe, to get a bounty.

We need the gold.

Music to my ear.

Now I know how best to lure him out.

Yeah, so you're going
to, uh, let me go, right?

What I'm going to do is
ask permission to kill you.

Wait here.

Okay, we'll let him roll the
escape check at like a minus five

Jake/Bilge: or

Christopher/GM: something.

No, he's stuck.

But he, he tries to, tries to do.

He now one stucks.

I think at this point, most of the
people are free from their, their chains.

Rowan is kind of overlooking,
perhaps talking to Hellion a

little bit in hushed tones.

There is a moment where he, like,
touches the, the arm and then, like,

looks around to see Bilge coming
back and, like, shakes it off for

a split second and turns to Bilge.

It's like, I believe I was successful
in obtaining valuable information.

With your permission, I'll do what
I do, if you know what I mean.

He turns to Hellion.

Do you want to do it?

And she looks towards Bilge, looks
towards Rowan, thinks about it.

Shakes her head no.

Be quick, but be painful.

As you wish.

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Hayden/Bilge: And now our, we'll return
to our regularly scheduled program after

we roll initiative and roll this ad.

Brad/Yasper: After these
messages, we'll be right back.

Probably the only one old
enough to remember that.

6,

Hayden/Bilge: 11, 13, yeah,
and then, sorry there's

Christopher/GM: more.

Cutting this part out.

Hayden/Bilge: I need to do
an online roller for this.

Sorry, I raised my hand,
this is an audio podcast.

No, I

Brad/Yasper: think we should just
establish I'm terrible at rolling

dice and, you know, work accordingly.

Hayden/Bilge: Yeah, you know, Shu
will, Shu will gasp, wake up and

say, Yasper, you know there's such a
thing as the Assurance Feet, right?