| Hole (Campaign 2 - Episode 102) |
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| Information | |
| Release Date: | June 27, 2024 |
| Recording Date: | June 18, 2024 |
| Episode Length: | 1:04:14 |
| Cast & Characters | |
| Michael DiMauro: | Dungeon Master |
| Tim Lanning: | T'Chuck |
| Jennifer Cheek: | Selene von Esper |
| Nika Howard: | R'Oarc |
| Mike Bachmann: | Screech Echo |
| Guide | |
| Previous Episode: | Next Episode: |
| Empire of Lies | A Simple Stabbing Mistake |
Our heroes must make their way safely through an OT checkpoint and they can’t quite figure out how to not get executed on sight. Ideally, there won’t be any bloodshed but let’s be honest here, they are doing at least 4 treasons currently so I wouldn’t bet on peaceful.
Story[]
Long Story[]
The party finds themselves, along with the rest of The Big Top Traveling Circus and Magnificent Menagerie, approaching an OT checkpoint. Ordinarily, this wouldn't be that big a deal. But, they are currently traveling with Big Bo (actually Emperor Beauregard), who's been in disguise as a clown named Bobo. If they find him... well, that would be bad. They also have J'Michael with them, the last dragon. He's back in the animal wagon. Barnabas Rumbletoes is there, and he tells them that the OT checkpoint is "pretty standard. Not normal, but it has happened before". The OT will go through each wagon, casting Detect Magic to see if there's anything shady going on. He warns them to keep their magic on the DL, and also to keep their "griffon" in check.
Alright, so... what do we do about this? They still have the Portable Hole that they were gifted from the Stone Giants, so maybe they could use that. It's true that there's only 10 minutes of oxygen in there, but maybe that's enough time to get safely away from the OT. Screech can take the Portable Hole, with Big Bo and J'Michael inside, and grapple away. Although, RE: grappling. Screech's grappling gun he's using contains the Rope of Climbing, another magical artifact. So that will need to go in the hole as well. Also, R'Oarc's rat pipes. Those go in the hole, too, though R'Oarc is reluctant to give them up. There's also the Selene problem. She has defected from the OT, so they'll be looking for her as well. Instead of going in the hole, she decides to dress herself up as a clown, so she won't be recognized. But that means they'll need to go to the clown's wagon, to get some makeup.
The party splits into two factions: R'Oarc and Selene head to the clowns, while T'Chuck and Screech (along with Big Bo) go see J'Michael at the back of the caravan. The wagon the party is staying in is in the middle of the caravan. At the front, OT members are beginning to knock on the doors of the first few wagons. There are two mages, wearing the trademark Theonite collars that Selene used to wear. There are also 5 soldiers, and 3 archers. So, a total of 10 OT members. They appear to be holding out some papers, and asking Barnabas about them, but the party can't currently see or hear what they're asking about. At the very back of the caravan is the animal wagon. The clown's wagon is about halfway between the animal wagon and the party's wagon. So the good news is that both groups will be going away from the OT.
T'Chuck, Screech, and Big Bo leave first. As they approach the animal wagon, they see the old, one-eyed bear that was wrestling with J'Michael a few episodes ago. He's just trotting along. Jumbo is also there, but he's not really a magical creature (unless the whole thing about granting wishes was real). J'Michael is inside the wagon, so the guys enter and explain the situation to him. J'Michael is resistant to go in the Portable Hole, so Bo has to roll up his sleeves and handle it himself. He and J'Michael start wrestling. While they are rolling around on the ground, Screech throws the Portable Hole over them. Cool! Bo and J'Michael are now in the hole. I think at this point, it's just decided that the whole "10 minutes of oxygen" thing, just... doesn't matter. Also, they throw the old bear in the hole, too. With that, Screech sneaks away, into the woods.
Meanwhile, Selene and R'Oarc are attempting to get to the clown wagon. They don't want Selene to be seen, so they try pulling a classic "two people in a trench-coat, standing on each other's shoulders" bit. But it doesn't work. R'Oarc is, like, 6' 6" or something like that, remember? They end up tripping, and falling out of the wagon. This catches the attention of the OT mages, who begin walking toward them. Without panicking, or running away, Selene and R'Oarc casually, but quickly, power walk to the clown's wagon, and hop in before the mage catches up with them. Inside, R'Oarc announces that Selene is with her, so she's cool. The clowns accept this, and immediately begin applying clown paint to Selene.
As they are working, the OT arrives, and knocks on the door. They command all the clowns to exit the wagon, which they begin to do. But there's, like, an absurd amount of clowns in here, even though the car is not that big on the outside! Whoa! Selene and R'Oarc, both dressed as clowns, separate themselves, and try to blend in with the rest of the clown crowd. Selene, however, finds that she recognizes one of the mages. It's "Greta Buckleby", one of her classmates at school. She's never really been that nice to Selene. The other mage asks around to the clowns, if any of them have seen this person. And he holds up the paper. It's Ratma Ritmo!
One of the clowns speaks up, claiming to have seen her "about a year back". But it's R'Oarc who the leader of the OT is interested in. R'Oarc tries to play some clown games with him, but he's not having any of it. Instead, R'Oarc decides to incite a clown riot. She attempts to throw a pie at the clown who mentioned knowing Ratma, but misses, instead hitting one of the soldiers. This does, in fact, start a fight, which causes all the clowns to scatter. R'Oarc and Selene attempt to slink away with the rest of them, and while Selene is successful, R'Oarc is not. She gets caught by the OT, who announce that she'll be spending the night in "the brig", or whatever the word for jail is back then.
The episode ends with both Barnabas and T'Chuck running up to the action.
Short[]
T'Chuck and Screech take Big Bo and the Portable Hole down to the animal wagon, where they find J'Michael. He, Bo, and the old bear are thrown into the Portable Hole, which Screech takes to hide from the OT. Meanwhile, Selene and R'Oarc get all clowned up, and start a riot between the clowns and the OT. However, R'Oarc gets caught, and is about to be thrown in the brig.
Trivia[]
- The Portable Hole is a magical item, so it would be detected using Detect Magic. However, any magical items inside wouldn't be.
- T'Chuck has 37 vials of fantasy viagra.
In This Episode...[]
Cast and Player Characters[]
- Michael DiMauro - Dungeon Master
- Tim Lanning - T'Chuck
- Jennifer Cheek - Selene von Esper
- Nika Howard - R'Oarc
- Mike Bachmann - Screech Echo
Non-Player Characters[]
- Barnabas Rumbletoes
- Big Bo
- The Old Bear
- Jumbo
- J'Michael
- Several OT members, one of them is named Greta Buckleby
Locations[]
Inventory[]
| T'Chuck | Selene von Esper | R'Oarc | Screech Echo | General Inventory | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Quest Board[]
- [Active] - Save Selene's family!
- [Active] - Go to Brunnell
- [Active] - Go to Brookwillow
- [Active] - Keep Big Bo hidden from the OT
- [On-Hold] - Recruit the help of Hortentia Calamore
- [On-Hold] - Travel to Vhur'endal
- [On-Hold] - Recruit the help of House Bartell
- [On-Hold] - Travel to Anchordowns
- [Active] - Go to Brunnell
- [On-Hold] - Find a cure for Thaldin Emberbrew
- [On-Hold] - Go to the nearby Drow city, probably Vhur'endal
- [On-hold] - Investigate "Bill, the Necromancer", in the far off city by the coast
- [On-hold] - Take the disembodied lips to the oceanfront, for a burial at sea
Quotes[]
- "Am I not supposed to talk?" ~ J'Michael
"I wish you wouldn't." ~ Screech Echo
- "Isn't it really funny when some shit happens, and we're not able to open the bag, and in 10-15 minutes, we open it, and there's a dead emperor, and a dead J'Michael, and a dead bear, inside of the bag!" ~ Jennifer Cheek
- "Selene, I don't know what's going on, but, I gave out the traditional 'Is everything clear?', and I got alarm honks coming back." ~ R'Oarc
- "Would you rather your significant other met a 12-ft person in the woods, or 2 girls?" ~ Mike Bachmann
- "It's like a cacophony of honks in there." ~ Michael DiMauro
Rolls[]
- T'Chuck rolls Perception upon leaving their train car - 17
- He sees a group of OT checking out the first car.
- Screech makes a ranged attack roll to throw the Portable Hole over top of Bo and J'Michael - 15
- Success - He throws the hole over them.
- Screech rolls Stealth to sneak away with the Portable Hole - 19 + 9
- Success - He slinks away.
- R'Oarc and Selene roll Athletics to stand on each others shoulders wearing a trench-coat
- Selene - 14 - 1
- R'Oarc - 3 + 2
- R'Oarc falls off of Selene, and they go tumbling out of the wagon.
- Selene rolls Persuasion to get the clowns to accept her and give her some make-up - 25
- Success - They get her all clowned-up.
- R'Oarc and Selene roll Perception upon leaving the clown car
- R'Oarc - 20
- Selene - 24
- She notices that the OT mage is "Grettle Buckleby", someone she went to school with.
- R'Oarc makes a ranged attack roll to throw a pie at a clown - 4
- She misses, and it hits one of the OT soldiers.
- R'Oarc and Selene roll to hide themselves amongst the fleeing clowns
- Selene (rolling Performance) - 8
- R'Oarc (rolling something) - Nat 1