Due to some violent content, Parental discretion is advised. In the year two
hundred and forty seven, in the Age of Judges, Vartan was summoned home
after the death of his father. Upon his return, Vartan discovered something evil
festering beneath the city of Eternal. With the help of some very unlikely allies,
Bartan works to uncover the mysteries of his hometown and put an end to
the nightmares that plague his people. Welcome to Ethereal Embrace. I don't think
I've ever gone through as many portals in my whole life as I have in
the last couple of days, though it does make travel a lot faster.
Day four the City Art Station. You're currently at the City Guard barracks,
and you've got Judge Greystone in the cell, murdered and posed in a very
gory way in front of you. And yeah, oh no, oh my
word, Greystone? How why why would Susan do this? I think the
why is obvious. She'd still needed another sacrifice. Look at how he's posed.
Yeah, but here, I thought I thought it was at the bricks.
Yeah, I think I think we need to get there. Oh,
I don't see dove Bray around either, No, I don't need there.
I think we need to make haste and hopefully prevent another murder. Yeah,
I'm with you. Let's go. Okay, So you leave the city guard
and you head toward the warehouse at the bricks. You make your way pretty
quickly. It's not too far from the city guard to the to the warehouse
itself. The streets are pretty empty. Between the people putting out the fire
and the rest of the people staying hidden at Timarin's barn, the streets are
pretty open for you to make your way there. As you get to the
warehouse, are you guys trying to be sneaky coming in at all? Or
are you just charging in? Ready to go? I think Bartend would go
for charging in. That's kind of what I was thinking, was that at
this point, what do we have to lose? Yeah, he could be
stopped, but that that would be his go to. So you go charging
it. You kick in the door, it flies open. You make your
way into the warehouse and what you see is gut wrenching. You find Dove
Brie laid out on a makeshift altar in the center of one of the warehouse
bays. She's been killed as well. Her arms and legs are pinned in
a pose to match the one destruction destruction room that you've been seeing painted all
over town. Around her, though, lay the bodies of ten other cultists
that have been killed. Their bodies are laid out in a large circle,
and there appears to be something you can't tell. It's pretty dark in here
right now. There appears to be something on the ground in between each one
of the bodies. This is horrifying, all this death for what as Bias
saying that I'm gonna walk over and see what what's it between them and Morgan's
going to walk over to breathe. They appear to be the ruins that Vartan
and Baio would recognize are the same set of ruins that surround the entire city
of Eternal, the ones that go under the tunnels. Yeah, what does
this mean? Weren't those ruins the ones that kept people alive? She did
say the final sacrifice would be here, and it's trying to break the magic
of this place and the portal. Everyone give me an arcana check and Baya
give it with advantage ten eight, Thank you for the advantage. Five.
Do you want to use an inspiration. Yeah, there we go, seventeen,
there we go. Okay, via your research and your understanding of languages
helps you to identify one new room out of this ancient text. And the
new roun has been laced into some of the old runs. And the run
itself is a small quick like almost like a half of an arrow. So
just some quick jabs of line work added to these runs, and it is
the ruin of corruption. So it appears that she has added some sort of
corruption to the same magic incantation that circles the city. How are these ruins
inscribed? Like? Are they dug into the dirt? Painted? They are?
It's was used the blood of the cultists, uh to draw them into
essentially wood flooring. It looks like someone added corruption to these rooms. I
don't know what that means. If if a ritual was done here with corrupted
eternal life, I'm not sure exactly what that means. I don't know if
it's going to affect the whole town, I guess, is what I'm saying.
Yeah that might, I mean, I guess. I don't know how
it works, but I guess that's one way of breaking the magic here.
The question is where did she go? Yeah, I think I'll on that.
I'll walk around and I guess just look around and see if there's any
any signs of somebody exiting or signs of her exiting. Go ahead and make
an investigation role. I'm going to use my last inspiration. Okay, it's
a ten. Yeah. Unfortunately, with all of the foot tracks coming in
the ten different cultests, other townsfolk, brass Cane, and even you guys
coming in and out, the footsteps are just too mangled and messy to identify
where she went to exactly. I can't I can't make out, I can't
make her out from anybody else. I think it's going to be impossible to
find her, find the direction she went. Well, she said that she
was going to weaken the magic and then close the portal forever. Would she
be heading to the portal room then? I mean, she seemed to think
it kind of needed to be closed from the inside out at one point.
Shit, how do we get there? Now? We can climb up the
well you and that well well we blocked off the other entrance. That's true,
I mean, whatever we do, and of course time is of the
essence, but we can't we can't leave this life. This bree deserves more
respect. I agree. Is there anyone like in the area around us still?
Or is everybody still trying to put out Martan's house. Most of the
city Guard and the Doves were either going to protect the innocent people that were
left, were covering from their wounds or putting out the fire. So besides
Brie, it is just cultest that none of us have ever seen. Correct,
Yep, no other innocence. The only other innocent person anywhere near you
is Robin Torman, who's kind of out in the streets. He did not
come into the warehouse with you, but he's still following you around. Well,
Morgan's going to unpin Brie play or blackout, just kind of just laid
out no longer in a ritualistic pose, and kind of glance around the warehouse,
see if she can find a tarp or something to cover her so that
she's just not laying in the open with these horrible people around her. Yeah.
Yeah, you easily find a tart in the stuff and you can cover
her up and give her a little respect. Is there something that's powering these
ruins on the floor with your ar cannon? Check of seventeen. You believe
it's I mean, it's blood magic. So the blood is a good source
of power. Plus the city itself already has magic. If you were to
try and disrupt it, you could scratch up the ruins on the ground,
break up the circle. Yeah, I guess I'll I'll just pour some water
over the blood to try to wash it away. You know, it washes
it kind of away, but kind of smudges and stuff, But you can
definitely break it up easily. I'm a little bit at a loss of what
to do. This horror since we've gotten back is been a lot, and
we need to find Susan. We need to stop her. Yeah, yeah,
I mean I don't think there's a threat of anybody else being murdered.
I mean, she did tell us this was this was the last one.
She said she needed brass Kane. But a blood magic ritual, technically anyone
could be used. It just won't be as potent. Maybe I don't know
if she'll be able to accomplish what she's trying to, But how do we
stop her at this point? I don't know. I think she's alone down.
I mean, she killed all of her accomplices well, I mean,
what's she even trying to do at this point? We have her core Vartan
Just at that moment the spear disappears from your hands, of course it does.
A few moments later, you hear a scream from a distance, a
good distance away. But it is a man's scream that you can hear ring
out throughout the night. Over all of the shouting from the people putting out
the fire, from the people you know, trying to organize stuff, you
hear one very large shout. Our heroes will be right back after these messages.
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Now back to the town of Eterno. Immediately run towards the shout yeah,
okay, and it's toward the last stop tavern and in so you head out
of the warehouse, and just as you're heading out, you see Torman say,
oh my god, what is happening? What's happening to my book?
And you look Robin Torman shouts out in fear as the book ignites into flames,
and he drops the book to the ground, the one that he had
a connection to his Greyhawk voice with, and flames burst to light from the
air above the book. Wisps of smoke and spouts of fire coalesced into a
shape. It's the shape of Yagnolot. As he forms into existence, Yagnoloth
grabs up the Robin using his smaller arm, and the demon drains the life
from Robin Torman and shouts iron and then he tosses torment to the ground.
The Robin is now dead and rule for initiative, all right, nineteen Well
I rolled a gnat one with zero modifier twenty. Baya, you're up first.
Baya looks at this demon and says, you killed and hurt a lot
of the doves, and you just murdered this robin and what for what are
you gaining out of this power? Well, this takes a lot of power,
and she finger guns a fireball at him. Oh that is a nineteen
that passids, so sixteen fire damage. See, it doesn't matter how powerful
you are, you still get singed. Where are we at distance wise?
I know we were coming up on the robin, but I wasn't quite sure
where we were at. I'd say you're a solid thirty feet away, so
you could get within striking distance melee if you want, or you can back
out of striking distance if you want. Okay, Well, Morgan's upset,
so she's going to go ahead and close the distance. So when she gets
in front of him, she unfurls her spectral wings just for an extra intimidation
factor, and leaps up to strike him about mid high with her greaves.
That's not gonna do it, that's an eight. So as she attempts to
do this, she's clearly angry. She just saw the robin murdered. She's
upset over Bree and you know, just thinking about everyone that she's lost or
who was injured, and she just wasn't paying attention, so she just kind
of whiffs on by catches herself and tries again, kind of aiming at his
other side instead, and is still still angry, and and so she totally
misses. All right, So I'm gonna go ahead and spend a key point
for fury of blows and just make two unarmed strikes. The first one is
a thirteen, which I'm assuming misses, all right, So seventeen hits for
four damage. I'm gonna go ahead and step back five feet. Not that
that's gonna do it any good at all. No, No. In fact,
it's his turn out and his reach with his long arm is actually fifteen
feet. So he pulls up his giant arm and goes to hit you as
he takes a step forward toward you, and it's a miss. It's a
critical miss. Let me see if he Nope, not a second critical.
So yeah, so hed a big swing as he's taken a step for toward
you, but your nimble monk abilities help you avoid that hit. And then
he brings his small arm down to grab onto you, and that's a twenty
two to hit that hits all right, So the first initial damage on that
is twenty four lightning damage damn. And then a lightning bolt shoots back toward
Vartan and and I need dexterity saving throws from each of you DC sixteen not
twenty hell yeah twelve. That is twenty two damage to Vartan. And because
it was a crit on your save, Baya, I will say zero damage
to you bya nimbly sidesteps the lightning with fire glowing in her eyes at the
anger she's feeling for this being very very understandable. And Vartan, I believe
you're last in order, all right. I'm not even going to react to
the lightning other than like it. It definitely hits him, but he's he
is quiet, and he's going to walk up very very angry. He pulls
the hammer out and he goes for a well, actually, I'm gonna use
a bonus action as I'm walking up, and I'm going to deduce weakness swapping
my to add my wisdom modifier to damage to weapon damage rolls. Okay,
I'm going for just two handed, going for a stab with the with the
tip. That's a twenty to hit. And after I I'm going for a
stab into his his little arm, just because it's I guess it's the most
exposed, isn't it. Mm hmm. Yeah, I'm gonna go stab for
that, and then I'm gonna just like full, like full rotation swing to
smash it at the shoulder joint. Okay, right after stabbing it. First
tack. First attack with the stab that is is thirteen damage. Second attack
with the with the crushing blow that is fifteen damage. And I learned one
of the creature's traits actions since his damage vulnerabilities resistance or immunities your choice,
so I will tell you all of his damage resistances. He is damage resistant
to lightning, cold fire, bludgeting, piercing, and slashing from non magical
damages. Geez, I'm trying to think of how I'm learning that information from
that attack, Like maybe I'm getting visions in my head with the with the
whole with the whole Mystery Warrior arc type with the with the visions that I
get. Yeah, and uh, I'm like, make sure you hit him
with magic items and uh, based on that last fireball attack, I don't
think fire's gonna hurt him too much. I imagine lightning as well, and
cold no elements. Got it. Good to know, Vartan, thanks for
the info. How much toler is he than me? He is a very
large fiend. Okay, so he's pretty big, twelve thirteen feet in between.
Okay, well, I'm gonna I'm gonna leave off with like squaring up
with him and trying to like get myself in between Morgan and between him and
Morgan and Bio. That takes us back to Bias turn. Baya is going
to cast cloud of daggers on his location. You fill the air with spinning
daggers in a cube five feet on each side, centered on a point you
choose within range the middle of his body. A creature takes forty four slashing
damage when it enters the spells area for the first time on a turn or
starts its turn there. Okay, nine slashing damage, all right, Morgan?
All right, Morgan is gonna go ahead and retreat back to a twenty
foot distance from where he is and take up a position with her crossbow and
fire twice eighteen to hit yep eight piercing damage on that, and the second
one is twenty six to hit with six damage. All right, that's my
turn, all right, and Yagna Loth now takes his turn and strikes out
with his giant arm at Bartan. So his first attack smashes down on you,
doing twenty eight damage, and I need a DC sixteen constitution saving throw
from you or you are stunned dirty twenty nice okay. And then with its
small arm, it's going to touch you or attempt to. But it only
rolled an eleven on that that misses. So the lightning does not trigger on
the damage from a small arm, and it does not shoot out a lightning
bolt across the terrain at Morgan and Baya, and that is its turn.
Yeah, I'm in a second wind that is healing myself for fourteen okay,
And I'm going for that lightning arm again. That's a twenty five to hit.
That hits and that's a miss, So I go to I go to
swing again, and I guess any dodges, but I did hit one.
That's fourteen damage. That arm is look and super mangled right now. It
is busted up, broken up. You can tell it was still kind of
broken up when he came here. Originally, he healed quite a bit by
sucking the life out of Robin Torman, but it is just as bad as
you've seen it so far, so it is pretty wrecked. All right.
Baya is going to cast mind spike, and I need a wisdom saving.
Throws a twenty right that would be for damage, for psychic damage. He's
definitely bloodied now as well, and if he tries to become invisible or anything,
I will still know exactly where he is, all right, sweet,
okay. Morgan is going to take up a position right next to Vartan,
so basically shoulder to shoulder, okay, And I am going to att hack
with Breath of the Dragon in a twenty foot cone of acid, so that
should not affect Vartan since we're side by side. So I need a deck
save. It's an eleven, so it fails, it's saved. That's seven
damage, okay. And then I'm going to go ahead and also throw a
dart al that goes wide. It's kind of hard to do with him being
a giant and right in front, right, Yeah, maybe it went straight
into the ground. It also hit the acid, yeah, all right.
It is big yags turn so Yagnoloth needs to take his damage from the cloud
of daggers, all right, And he is going to attempt to attack Vartan
again and pull him into the cloud of daggers, and so with them with
the massive arm, he's gonna he rolled a seventeen seventeen hits, all right,
seventeen hits, okay, but I am going to use gift of the
metallic dragon protective wings and wrap those wings around Vartan and give him three plus
bonus to his ac that misses, then wah, all right, does that
last this entire round? So his small hand trying to hit two? Okay,
so a small hand is also a miss. So so you go to
wrap your wings around Vartan just as Yagnolos slams both of his arms down on
Vartan, and your wings claps around Vartan just in time to block the blows
from both arms. And because neither abilities trigger, he is going to cast
invisibility on himself. So yeah, you still know where he is. But
he just poof disappears in front of Vartan and Morgan Baya calls out his location.
All right, okay, if he moved, he did. He moved
ten feet back away from them after his attack, so he's still within range
to hit them because his reach with his big arm, not his littlelarm,
but his big arm is fifteen feet so he moved to where he was at
that fifteen feet mark so he could still hit them, but they could not
hit him if they swung. So you call that out all right, Well,
I am going center mass based on my spotters directions, going for the
spike first. Okay, that is a NAT twenty Oh my guys, twenty
damage and I have one more attack. What I'm gonna do if you'll,
if you'll allow me to do it so I don't lose his position. I'm
going to actually pull myself up with the hammer embedded in and with the spike,
and I'm gonna like grab on to his cloak and I'm gonna pull the
hammer out and try and jam it into where I feel where the above where
his head will be. One you can do. That is twenty two to
hit and that's a kill shot because he only had one hit point. Yeah,
twenty one hit points and you did twenty on that stab. Yeah.
I'm just gonna slam the the grabbing it at like the the top of it
where the hammer is, so I'm just like hammer fisting the hammer spike into
his head, blood, brain matters start to spurt out, and then he
becomes visible again as he collapses to the ground. I'm gonna ride him down.
Thank you for listening to this episode of Ethereal Embrace, a Creative Typo
production Vartan. The Furbog Fighter is voiced and played by Adam Culbertson. Baya
Rustin, the half Elf Sorcerer is voiced and played by Tisha Morgan. The
Human Monk is voiced and played by Nari Quack and I am Nico your GM.
Please remember to drop us a five star rating and review on your favorite
podcatcher. Music provided in part by Midnight Syndicate, makers of the original Dungeons
and Dragons soundtrack. If you would like to support our show or any of
our other shows, you can join our family of patrons at patreon dot com.
Forward Slash Creative Typo. Remember be safe, we love you all,
and stay foolish. I'm not even going to react to the lightning of the
then like it definitely hits him, but he's he is quiet, and he's
going to walk up very very uh what's the word menacingly? Menacing? Yeah,
very stoic, well, no, very very very focused very angry walking up