Rusty Quill Gaming -- [15] -- [BOOM!] 

#### RQG -- 15 -- BOOM!

Content Warnings

["Physical violence & injury (inc. stabbing)", "Loss of consciousness", "Bombs & explosions", "Building collapse", "Fire", "Discussions of: food", "Mentions of: death (inc. drowning) & human remains, blood", "SFX: water, building collapse & explosion"]

##### [Show Theme -- Intro]

#### ALEX

Hello and welcome to episode 15 on the Rusty Quill Gaming podcast. I'm your host and GM as always, Alex Newall, and with me, for yet another exciting adventure, I have: 

#### LYDIA

Lydia Nicholas. 

#### BEN

Ben Meredith.

#### BRYN

Bryn Monroe. 

#### JAMES

James Ross. 

#### ALEX

And who are you playing, quickly? 

#### LYDIA

Sasha Racket -- the sneaky, stabby one.

#### BEN

Zolf -- the heal-y, miracle-y one.

##### [Alex snickering]

#### BRYN

Hamid -- the physically and emotionally battered one.

##### [Laughter]

#### JAMES

Sir Bertrand MacGuffingham -- the best one!

##### [More laughter]

#### ALEX

And before we start, I need to give a quick shout-out. I actually got given a guest spot on a Let's Play channel, so if anyone gets a moment do check out an episode of The Happy-Go-Lucky Scamps, they play games and... 

#### JAMES

They sound like fun! 

#### ALEX

They're fun chaps! 

#### LYDIA

Is it cheery? 

#### ALEX

It's *positively* cheery! 

#### LYDIA

Is it perky, is it jolly? 

#### ALEX

It's all of those things, and I believe by the end of that episode we may have accidentally created a new Batman villain, who was on the scale of The Borrowers.

#### LYDIA

_(finds this adorable)_ Awwwww...

#### ALEX

Very strange.

#### BEN

So Antman kind of nemesis? 

#### ALEX

Oh, all of his enemies were Borrowers. 

#### JAMES

_(overlapping)_ Man-Ant, presumably, because of the size.

##### [Snickers]

#### ALEX

But, yep, just do check out their... they're on YouTube, they've got a decent number of videos off there and they're eager for more, so give them a check.

So! As a recap from what happened most recently, the party have been chasing down what happened to the Simulacrum and got sent back down to Other London to find out what had happened to the people who had messed around with it. You had had a run in with Sasha's old friends, which *could* have gone worse, although led Hamid to have a little bit of an awkward moment.

And then we powered on towards the compound. And we have been in the compound, we have found a trap or two, and are currently engaged in combat -- *with the people!* Who you tracked down!

#### BRYN

We recognised them and everything.

#### ALEX

You recognised on sight! And on the way, of course, you took out some guards using some clever statuesque tactics... 

#### BRYN

Mmm... so brilliant.

#### JAMES

_(pleased)_ I used my natural cunning.

##### [Laughter]

#### BRYN

And some silver paint.

#### JAMES

Yes! 

#### ALEX

When those two go together Bertie's a happy man.

#### JAMES

Mmm.

#### BRYN

That's all the weapons he needs. Sparing(?) the armour and the swords.

#### ALEX

We had a bit of a hairy moment with Zolf where it turns out that Zolf's a big fan of just eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, so what's going to happen --

#### BRYN

Drown for a drown.

#### ALEX

Drown for a drown.

#### JAMES

Drowning an eye, drowning a tooth, just holding them underneath the water until they stop breathing.

#### ALEX

So we'll have to see how that plays out once you guys have dealt with these fighters. And I must say, that given that you, last session, were hitting criticals left, right and centre --

#### LYDIA

Yeah, boom! 

#### ALEX

-- and removing them in a single turn, which by the way...

#### JAMES

Definitely centre. Mostly centre.

##### [Snickering]

#### BRYN

Both Sasha and Bertie did critical hits and did immense amounts of damage. I completely failed every roll and lost a spell to no effect. 

#### BEN

And I'm not even at the fight yet! 

#### ALEX

You had a *brilliant* move.

##### [Laughter]

#### BEN

I did!

#### ALEX

Brilliant.

#### BEN

That was some good four squares.

#### JAMES

It was pretty... it was a sashay, which is difficult to do when you've got a peg leg. Well done.

#### ALEX

So, I believe at this stage it is the dog's turn -- because Bertie just annihilated someone.

#### JAMES

Yep.

#### ALEX

The dog hears that something's happening and proceeds to run: five, ten, 15, 20, 25, past the doorway and round the corner to see what the noise is. I fear you may have picked the worse of the two dogs to be your best friend. Zolf, you are up. 

#### BEN

Okay. 

#### ALEX

And you have line of sight through Bertie's legs, although, I'm going to be honest, that might be a bit of a tall order for a shot. I might have to up the AC of whoever you're firing at if you choose to. 

#### BEN

The doors, are they double-doors -- as in, are they ten foot wide? You said they were barn door size. 

#### ALEX

They are double-doors, but they are only... one of them is open, so there is a five-foot door open.

#### BEN

Okay. In which case, would it be acceptable for me to walk five up to the door and then a five diagonal in? 

#### ALEX

I will allow that, that's fine, because the door is freely swinging. It's just not currently... 

#### BEN

Okay, fine.

#### JAMES

Also, Bertie would have moved forward if he's slashing things, he's not going to go the whole five-foot in-depth of the square... 

#### ALEX

Oh, exactly, you're absolutely fine. 

#### BEN

Yeah, yeah, cool. Okay, lovely! In which case, I will do that and then I will fire an icicle. 

#### ALEX

I should remind listeners, by the way, there is currently a corpse in front of Bertie -- a pro...

#### JAMES

Two half-corpses.

#### ALEX

_(correcting himself)_ Two, I am *so* sorry.

#### BRYN

The space in front of Bertie is empty. There's half a corpse in front of Hamid to Bertie's left, and half a corpse in front of Zolf to Bertie's right. 

#### ALEX

_(fascinated)_ Does that count as two corpses? I don't know how the grammar works. 

#### LYDIA

Well, I'm assuming mechanically it's like two small corpses. 

#### ALEX

_(matter-of-fact)_ Oh yes, it's two corpses of small creatures who happen to be half a person.

##### [Lydia snickers]

And there is someone guarding, apparently, the entrance to the steeple off to one side, and the caster who is currently flat on his back in the doorway to upstairs. And Sasha's still in the stairway, but ready to come down. 

#### BRYN

We probably can't see her, to be fair. 

#### ALEX

Oh no, you wouldn't know.

#### LYDIA

Shadoooooowwww.

#### BEN

Although he did fall over with bleeding shoulder blades.

#### BRYN

We *assumed*...

#### JAMES

We can infer. There's a lot of circumstantial evidence.

##### [Group laughter]

#### BEN

So I'm going to walk in... 

#### ALEX

And he's yelling, "Oh my god, that young girl stabbed me in the back, what the heck!"

#### BEN

Yeah, I'm going to walk in, clock that the bad guy has one of those fire-bombs, and *continue* to walk forward, thus removing the big clump of bad people. 

#### ALEX

Ah, wise, wise. 

#### BEN

And just shield up, shield ready -- that's me.

#### ALEX

So the first one who came down... is dead. *Properly* dead. In bits. So Sasha, you are now leading the turn. 

#### LYDIA

Hmmm... 

#### BEN

Does somebody prone count as flanked or are they just flat-footed? 

#### BRYN

I mean, being prone does lower an... does lower your AC. 

#### ALEX

Let's put it this way, he's certainly easier to hit but I --

#### BRYN

He's already taken a lot of damage as well. 

#### LYDIA

What -- is it mechanically possible for me to duck out of the stairwell, throw a dagger at this dude and then duck back into the stairwell?

#### ALEX

Hmmm. This is heading into one of those GM things. This has happened quite a lot.

#### LYDIA

Because this is me taking --

#### ALEX

Sure. 

#### LYDIA

-- basically, I mean, I assume it's like a five foot step, but there's no attack of opportunity. He is -- for the listeners at home, he is -- what, ten foot away from me? 

#### ALEX

In range, he's fine. 

#### BRYN

A prone character takes a *bonus* to AC against range attacks. 

#### ALEX

Yeah, because they're _(inaudible)_

#### LYDIA

But it's that dude I want to throw things at. The guy that's got --

#### ALEX

She wants to lean over the prone one.

#### BRYN

Ah, right. 

#### LYDIA

I want to lean over the prone one. 

#### ALEX

This is going to be a slightly house-rule-y one, but I've played with this before and it seemed to work quite well. I was once playing a game with a sniper, a sniper rogue -- archer, but still a sniper -- and there are rules regarding cover and total cover and leaning out and blah, blah, blah... 

#### LYDIA

Yeah.

#### ALEX

...and it starts to feel a bit broken?

#### LYDIA

Right. 

#### ALEX

So what I have tended to do in the past and, obviously, listeners if you have any better versions of this do write in and let me know -- I genuinely am trying to get better at what I am doing. What I have seen work in the past is that in a full turn, you can lean out from cover, sort of around a corner, get off a shot, and then return to cover. 

#### LYDIA

Great! 

#### ALEX

That -- I don't think it's spelt out in the rules that that is a full turn in action. It's more like, "From cover you can do this, if you do this then --" Blah, blah, blah. But a simple version is, if you are from cover and want to get a shot off and get back, I will just say that takes a full turn, no moving, you get one attack. Okay?

#### LYDIA

Okay.

#### ALEX

What I would say is that currently you are still up the stairs a bit because there were two people between you, so you would need to move to get into that position. 

#### LYDIA

Yeah. Right, okay.

#### ALEX

So you could certainly get round the side and get a shot off --

#### LYDIA

But I would move.

#### ALEX

But you wouldn't be able to do your "poke out, shoot and poke back" until next turn. 

#### BEN

Consider, though, if he throws a thing he's just likely to hit his mates.

#### ALEX

Oh, yeah. If he was to throw it at *you* --

#### LYDIA

Yeah. 

#### ALEX

-- he would be hitting himself and the caster, and you.

#### LYDIA

No, I get that he's probably going to throw it at those dudes --

#### ALEX

Mhm. 

#### LYDIA

-- the gang of people, but I... it is not a very "me" thing to do, to go out and just stab him. Like, I want to stay in cover.

#### ALEX

Plus, you would be trying to share a space with someone who is currently prone, who would, obviously, get a bit shirty at that.

#### LYDIA

Yeah, quite possibly --

#### ALEX

So that would be quite difficult.

#### LYDIA

-- nibble at my ankles. Okay!

#### BRYN

My suggestion is to stay in cover at the bottom of the stairs and you will be threatening the prone guy. 

#### LYDIA

Yeah, so if I stay there and lean out and throw a -- I think I might throw the vial of fire stuff, actually. Do I have to...

#### ALEX

Again, so is it that you want it to be ready so the next turn you can throw it out? Because you couldn't throw it out and duck back in this time. 

#### LYDIA

I think I will just throw it and I will stay. 

#### ALEX

You couldn't throw it from within that doorway unless you took a whole turn, is what I am saying. Very often as a rogue, you will catch yourself readying and holding actions.

#### LYDIA

Yep, okay. 

#### ALEX

I strongly recommend --

#### LYDIA

I will do that.

#### ALEX

-- holding your action because he's going to get a shot off, and then you can just go, "He's got his shot off, great, I am going to lean out." And that seems to be a better way. 

#### LYDIA

Yep, okay. That sounds good, and also those guys aren't in a big huddle so they will not necessarily all be smashed with six damage as happened last time --

#### ALEX

Yeah, exactly.

#### LYDIA

-- that I didn't take a shot that I could've. 

#### ALEX

So I wouldn't -- for all listeners, it's good to remember that holding your action can sometimes feel like you're passing, like "I don't know what to do." Actually what you're *really* doing is, technically speaking, this is all sort of happening simultaneously.

#### LYDIA

Right, right.

#### ALEX

It's waiting for an opportune moment. And especially as a rogue, if you are not holding your action and readying actions, you're going to be finding it really quite difficult.

#### LYDIA

Okay. So that's what I do.

#### ALEX

Sure. And genuinely, it's probably the best thing right now. 

#### LYDIA

So, from my understanding I am now standing there with my thing drawn, ready to throw _(inaudible)._ Gotcha.

#### ALEX

Oh yeah, next turn, once it comes round, or if a different thing comes up because you've *held* your action, you've not *readied* it.

#### LYDIA

Ahh, yeah.

#### ALEX

Because if you'd readied it, you know, certain conditions have to be met. 

#### LYDIA

Right! 

#### ALEX

So, Hamid... 

#### BRYN

Hamid *does* hold his action, not for a tactical reason, but for... because he's trying to desperately pull himself together. He could either just go outside and cry...

##### [Alex snickers]

Or he can stay here, take a few deep breaths and try to be useful again, so I'm --

#### ALEX

Things have got very real, haven't they?

#### BRYN

He's struggling a bit, but I'm going to hold my action. 

#### ALEX

Okay. 

#### BRYN

And see if he manages to pull himself together a bit. 

#### ALEX

In which case, the one who's wielding a flask sees what happened to his friend and disappears up the steeple.

##### [Lydia gasps]

The one who is prone on the floor doesn't see this currently. The one who is on the floor takes stock of the situation. Looks to the right, sees one of his people down; looks to the left and sees Sasha quite literally over him in a very menacing way, and he has already been stabbed in the back.

He then casts the spell that he was going to cast before. 

#### BRYN

He will have to cast defensively or trigger an attack of opportunity.

#### ALEX

He *will* have to cast defensively. So the first thing he will do is make his Concentration check.

##### [Dice rolls]

So, he failed his defensive concentration check.

#### LYDIA

Hahaha.

#### JAMES

Stabby stabby!

#### LYDIA

I will stab a stab. 

#### ALEX

Yep, go for a stab. 

#### LYDIA

Do I really need to roll to hit? He's literally --

#### ALEX

Erm, yeah.

#### BEN

You could fail.

#### BRYN

If you get a 1 you might drop your dagger on him, and it would still do damage.

#### LYDIA

True that.

##### [Dice rolls]

#### LYDIA

19\.

#### BEN

And also you can roll a critical.

#### BRYN

And you can get a critical --

#### ALEX

19\. You've gotten a critical! I want you to know -- this person's scary. He's not coming across that way, but this person is *actively scary.*

##### [Laughter]

#### LYDIA

You've spent a lot of time giving him really scary possibilities --

#### ALEX

_(voice pitching in desperation)_ He just needs to get off *one spell,* that's all I need! 

#### BEN

Shall we confirm it and finish him off?

##### [Dice rolls]

#### ALEX

Oh, thank goodness! 

#### LYDIA

No!

#### BEN

Well, bearing in mind he's flat-footed, doesn't get any of --

#### BRYN

He's not flat-footed, he's prone, which is a minus 4 to his AC. 

#### BEN

Oh.

#### ALEX

It is not enough. 

#### BRYN

Okay, fair enough. 

#### LYDIA

So -- but I hit him.

#### ALEX

You definitely hit him, but you don't do what you did before and get all of the damage in the world. 

#### LYDIA

Right. 

#### ALEX

So you still get your D4, but it would be...

#### LYDIA

Yep, but I'm not going to kill him with a D4. 

#### BEN

You never know!

##### [Dice rolls]

#### LYDIA

One --

#### ALEX

Okay, that's fine.

#### LYDIA

-- *minus* one.

#### BRYN

Zero.

#### LYDIA

I do no damage. With a critical! I rolled a 19 and -- _(laughs)_

#### ALEX

I'll point out: you have, however, on your own...

#### LYDIA

I did a lot of damage. It was fun! 

#### ALEX

You're very -- you're certainly catching up on Bertie, who now has to find another enemy.

##### [Lydia cackles]

You just threshed(?) it out -- it's *very* different. 

#### BRYN

He still has to make a Concentration check or lose the spell. 

#### ALEX

He does. 

#### BRYN

But the DC will not be very high since he took zero damage. 

#### ALEX

No. And, a bit of a spoiler, his Concentration check is *formidable.* He just rolled very poorly.

##### [Dice rolls]

#### BEN

_(praying)_ One, one, one --

##### [The dice stops]

##### [Everyone groans]

#### LYDIA

I kind of -- like, now I'm sort of almost regretting that I'm not going to get to see whatever scary stuff this dude can do!

#### BEN

No, once it happens you'll definitely regret it. 

#### LYDIA

But, like, when we -- the people we lost to terribly were just gutter rats, they just kept stabbing us, slightly.

#### BEN

Outnumbered.

#### ALEX

You were *massively* outnumbered. Actually in Pathfinder, mechanically, it is worth noting that when you are building encounters -- we will spend eventually some meta-cast who got planned out for how you GM, how you build these encounters, things like that -- outnumbered matters a lot. It actually ups the difficulty of the scenario, disproportionately. So two weak people are actually better than one person who is of slightly better level than they are, because it's about that difference in turns. You take a turn, they take *five.* It *really* starts to mount up very quickly. 

#### LYDIA

Yeah, but I just mean we didn't get to see them do explosive, exciting things. 

#### BRYN

The good news is, if he is a prepared spell-caster, he now can't cast that spell anyway because he expended the spell energy...

#### LYDIA

Ahhhhh!

#### BRYN

...for zero effect.

#### ALEX

So he didn't get his spell off.

#### BRYN

If he's a spontaneous caster he's just lost a slot and it's not such a big deal.

#### BEN

He puts his hands down and then, pffftt.

##### [Lydia cackles]

#### JAMES

His spell is, Sleeves Fall Down!

##### [Snickers all around]

#### ALEX

Bertie, you're up. 

#### JAMES

Oh! Er, right, so the chap's escaped up the steeple, the one who was standing up. Can I charge the prone man?

##### [Lydia laughs]

#### BRYN

Yep, you can absolutely charge the prone man. 

#### JAMES

So I could charge the prone man, or I could charge up the steeple stairs. 

#### BRYN

Charge requires a straight line. 

#### JAMES

Straight line, okay. 

#### ALEX

Across undamaged terrain. 

#### JAMES

In that case, I'm going to charge the prone man. I'm going to charge the defenceless man lying down.

#### BEN

Nice.

#### JAMES

Who has just failed to do magic properly.

#### BEN

True. I was going to say, you *have* to be able to charge prone people, otherwise that would be an amazing thing of, "Oh no, a bear might charge me! I fall over."

##### [Group laughter]

#### JAMES

Just be still, just be still -- they won't notice you! 

#### BEN

_(inaudible)_ I'm not going to charge you.

#### JAMES

If he's prone, can I also power attack? 

##### [Uproar of laughter]

#### BRYN

Oh *god.*

#### LYDIA

No, we need to know things from this guy!

#### ALEX

Well, you could take a penalty to hit...

#### BRYN

You probably won't *critical.*

##### [Lydia laughs]

#### ALEX

...to then do non-lethal. So it would be hitting him with the flat of your blade. 

#### LYDIA

That's not very Bertie though, is it? 

#### JAMES

_(considering)_ Mmm, not really. Could I maybe hack off a leg or something?

#### BRYN

Just roll the attack and see what happens. 

#### JAMES

Sorry. I do want to power attack him, though.

#### ALEX

Okay, that's fine. You're just going for broke, that's fine.

#### JAMES

Because that's what Bertie would do. Yep.

##### [Dice rolls]

#### JAMES

Er, 12 plus my attack bonus which is six, but it's five because it's a power attack.

#### BRYN

Plus two for charging. 

#### JAMES

19? 19 total. 

#### BRYN

Yes. 

#### ALEX

That is a hit.

#### JAMES

Yep, good. Now what am I rolling? 

#### BEN

D10 and damage. 

#### BRYN

D10 plus five.

#### JAMES

D10 plus five...

##### [Dice rolls]

Four -- nine damage. 

#### ALEX

Nine damage. Okay.

#### BEN

It's 18 so far.

#### ALEX

*19* so far.

#### BEN

Oh!

#### ALEX

And... he is not down.

##### [Lydia sucks in a breath]

#### BRYN

Yeah he is, he's prone! You just said!

##### [Laughter]

#### ALEX

Well, he doesn't appear to be dead, let's say that.

#### JAMES

So, Bertie charges over to him and just, like, kicks him. Just kicks him really, really, REALLY hard, but with his sword.

##### [Ben and Lydia cackle]

#### BRYN

At this point I will use my held action. 

#### ALEX

Yep, you insert. That's fine. 

#### BRYN

I... Hamid is struggling through the vomit to do something helpful, but spots that this guy is still moving and knows just how scary spellcasters can be, so he casts Magic Missile.

#### ALEX

Okay. 

##### [Dice rolls]

#### BRYN

Three damage.

#### ALEX

Okay. He takes that damage and... _(quietly)_ Alex looks smug and doesn't say anything.

#### BEN

Cool.

#### ALEX

He isn't desperately covering because his boss is quite, *quite* near death at this point. Ah, the *dog* -- 

#### BEN

_(dramatically)_ Da, da, daaaahhh... Was a traitor all along! 

#### JAMES

Brutor! Yeah, he's their fifth columnist. 

#### LYDIA

Et tu, Brutor?

##### [Group laughter]

#### BEN

_(groaning)_ Awwww.

#### ALEX

I like that one, that was a historical one!

Okay, so... five, ten, twenty, thirty... comes in!

##### [James gasps]

#### ALEX

Comes into the church, figures out how doors work! 

#### JAMES

Dog has worked out how the door works, i.e. has walked through the open, smashed door.

#### ALEX

Yes, yes.

#### BEN

It's how apertures work!

##### [James laughs]

#### ALEX

Now, beside Bertie... So we've got Bertie overlooking a prone enemy, a dog overlooking a prone enemy, Sasha overlooking a prone enemy, an enemy who is quite beaten up...

Yeah! Yeah, okay. Zolf, you are up.

#### BEN

Excellent!

##### [Miniature clunks]

One, two!

##### [Sasha laughs]

Do I have an okay line of sight to this guy? 

#### JAMES

Over the dog, quite a short dog. 

#### ALEX

Technically, here's a fun one -- the enemy counts as a mêlée, because they are basically adjacent to three people, so they are in mêlée. So you will be taking penalties for being in mêlée, and also, because you will be shooting over the dog, you will actually be taking a penalty for that as well.

#### BEN

If it's a ranged touch, does that do anything? 

#### ALEX

It makes it easier to do --

#### BRYN

You take the same penalty, but the AC is lower.

#### ALEX

-- but you take the penalty. 

#### BEN

I...

#### BRYN

You must remember, he gets a bonus to AC against ranged attacks, because of being prone.

#### JAMES

Isn't your weapon a long weapon?

#### BEN

I could try and prod him with the trident, but over the dog.

##### [Lydia cackles]

#### LYDIA

Just over the dog!

#### JAMES

If you're doing it non-lethally you have to do it at the wrong end. 

#### BEN

Yes. Doink, doink! No, in which case I think this guy, I mean, it looks like they've probably got this.

So I'm going to start walking -- I get to the door of the stairs.

#### LYDIA

Haven't you already moved two? Oh, so this is a double move. 

#### BEN

I have to basically use a double move at all times, is the sad thing.

#### ALEX

At which point, the one on the ground --

#### ALEX (GUY)

_(loud and clear:)_ I surrender. I surrender, I have surrendered.

#### LYDIA

Can I lean in and put a knife to his throat? 

#### ALEX

It is currently your turn, you're in combat unless you... I mean, this is a bit vague in the rules, but I will assume you are in combat until you guys tell me otherwise or there's no way that combat can happen. 

#### BEN

In which case, can I do a free speak-y action --

#### ALEX

Sure. 

#### BEN

-- and shout up the stairs:

#### ZOLF

Your boss has just surrendered! You should probably do the same.

#### LYDIA

Yeah, I'm going to lean in and put a knife to this guy's throat and say:

#### SASHA

Hold his hands! He's magic and stuff, he's a magical one.

#### ALEX

Very wise.

#### JAMES

I think Bertie... _(makes considering noises)_ Did this guy look very, very obviously dangerously magic? Does he have an obvious air of menace? 

#### BRYN

No. 

#### ALEX

Can you all give me a perception check now that you can examine the person properly? 

##### [Dice rolls]

#### JAMES

Nine. 

#### BRYN

"Yep, definitely a person!"

##### [James cackles]

#### ALEX

Bryn? 

#### BRYN

24\.

#### LYDIA

16\.

#### BEN

I'm not looking... Zolf --

#### ALEX

16? Er, yeah. Zolf's currently keeping an eye on the stairs. 

#### JAMES

My Perception roll, I can't tell if it's a man lying down or a shorter man!

##### [Laughter]

#### ALEX

In fairness, you can discern everything that you've already discerned. Hamid, you are --

#### BRYN

About 30 feet away, yeah.

#### ALEX

I would say that you discern that this person seems to have... They seem -- something seems off and you can't really place it, you're not really in the right headspace.

Sasha, you can discern that the person, unless they tried to cast a spell or something, there's not really anything that they can do. You have a knife-to-throat, two other people. Admittedly one of them is a dog who's licking his boots --

##### [Snickers]

But you've got this person pretty heavily pinned. It doesn't look like they're about to sweep into a rage and go, "Ha ha! Here's my 16 other arms and 15 daggers!" It doesn't seem like it would go that way. 

#### LYDIA

I am not familiar with magic, so that *would* seem like something that is plausible to Sasha.

#### ALEX

Sure. You were saying?

#### JAMES

Erm, yeah. I think Bertie is still quite suspicious of this chap, and I think he would like to withdraw his secondary weapon, his rapier, which is quite a thin instrument --

#### ALEX

Mhm. Mhm.

#### JAMES

-- take the chap's right hand and just smash the rapier through it and pin it to the floor.

##### [Everyone "oh"s in shock]

#### LYDIA

Bertie!

#### JAMES

He's not going to be casting any spells at me. 

#### BRYN

You'd be better off just knocking him out.

#### JAMES

But then we want to question...

#### ALEX

Make the call. If you want to do that, that's fine. However, it will count as an attack and he is hardly going to lie there and go, "Yep, you just go ahead, that's a price I'm willing to pay." 

#### JAMES

"Stab me through the hand!"

##### [He cackles for a bit]

Yeah, okay. Good point. Oh -- _(thoughtfully)_ Would Bertie care? ...No. Bertie is going to withdraw the rapier and stab him through the hand and try and pin him to the floor. 

#### ALEX

Okay. Then give me an attack roll. 

##### [Dice rolls]

#### JAMES

15\.

#### LYDIA

Oooh.

#### JAMES

My attack bonus for the rapier was five, so that's 20. 

#### ALEX

Okay. It counts as a hit. What was the damage? 

#### JAMES

I need to roll a D6 plus three.

#### ALEX

Okay.

##### [Dice rolls]

#### JAMES

One! So four. 

#### ALEX

Four? Okay. Because the guy is struggling, you don't manage to pin his hand to the ground -- he takes another hit to his hand, which is looking a bit messed up, but, honestly, to pin him to the floor and to drive a rapier into solid stone, or at the very least between the crags of a stone, you're going to need to do *significantly* better than that.

#### JAMES

Okay. 

#### ALEX

But yeah, I'm going to say that you guys are out of combat time now because, frankly, he's not going anywhere. 

#### HAMID

Okay. What's going on with the guy who ran off up the steeple, that Zolf was --

#### BEN

Yeah.

#### ALEX

No one knows! 

#### BEN

Yes!

##### [Zolf claps his hands]

#### ZOLF

You guys got this? 

#### LYDIA

I'm kneeling... I've got one leg on the dude's upper arm because he's on the ground, and then I've got a knife under his throat, and I'm holding his hair, so he's fricking *pinned.* So he can't use an arm to spell.

#### ZOLF

So have you guys got this? 

#### LYDIA

I look and I nod, and that's... but that's, you know... 

#### ZOLF

Right.

#### BEN

I will start heading up the stairs. 

#### BRYN

I am going to run over to join Zolf. 

#### ALEX

Okay, you start heading up the stairs. 

#### BEN

All the while going,

#### ZOLF

_(calling)_ He's surrendered! We'll let you live if you do the same.

#### ALEX

Okay, you head up the stairs and encounter a closed door. 

#### ZOLF

Why don't you come out, and we can talk?

#### ALEX

No answer. 

#### BEN

Try and open the door? 

#### ALEX

Okay. The door's unlocked. You do so -- *chk.* *Sssssssss...*

#### BEN

And I will leap back down the stairs! Through Hamid! 

#### ALEX

Sure.

##### [James laughs]

#### ALEX

Hamid sees Zolf just *run* back down the stairs... 

#### BEN

No, no, no, no -- I *throw* myself backwards.

#### ALEX

Oh, you literally just...

#### BEN

Because I've got a peg leg.

#### ALEX

Oh! _(laughs)_

#### BEN

I can't move fast! 

#### ALEX

Fair point! You hear a "sssssssss," at which point...

Everyone give me a Reflex save. 

##### [Dice rolls]

#### BEN

Yes!

#### LYDIA

Oh gosh. Um...

#### BEN

19\.

#### JAMES

15\.

#### BRYN

22\.

#### LYDIA

8\. 

#### BRYN

Oh dear!

#### ALEX

For once, everyone *apart* from Sasha... 

#### LYDIA

Oh, with my bonus!

##### [Laughter]

I'm just enjoying having the power over this dude for so long. So much that I just don't notice. "Yeah, I've got a knife at his throat, yeahhhh!" 

#### ALEX

At which point there is an enormous explosion --

##### [SFX: Explosion, glass and wood crunches]

-- apparently directly overhead and, with that, parts of the ceiling start to give way above you. And we're going to take a break there, and we're going to see what happens after that!

##### [Lydia gasps dramatically]

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

------

##### [AD BREAK]

------

#### ALEX

And welcome back! So, yeah, the ceiling appears to give a bit of a judder and bits of it start to fall down.

##### [SFX: Rumbling noises, crashing debris]

Everyone who is on that floor takes one D6 plus two damage. However, all of you made your reflex saves to avoid said damage, apart from Sasha. 

#### LYDIA

Ohhhhh.

#### ALEX

So I'm rolling just for Sasha... 

#### JAMES

And the prone chap, surely? 

#### ALEX

Er, yep, and the prone chap.

#### JAMES

Okay. 

#### ALEX

Both of them take --

##### [rolls dice]

Seven.

#### LYDIA

This is what happens if I let any of you actually do anything! 

#### ALEX

So, there's a big roar... 

##### [SFX: Roaring sound]

...And then chunks of masonry start falling down and -- 

#### LYDIA

I'm tied up for *one* second --

#### ALEX

To clarify, it doesn't seem like the whole building's coming down on top of you guys, but certainly bits of it start falling, masonry hurtling towards the ground. A couple ding off Bertie. Hamid, seeing it, manages to keep out of the way. Thankfully when Zolf threw himself back he knocked Hamid as well, and Zolf pretty much landed on Hamid and was taking most of the hits, but happened to just manage to avoid anything big.

Sasha, in the stairwell to the upper thing -- pretty much the stairwell collapses inwards.

#### LYDIA

Nooooo!

#### ALEX

And it doesn't bury her, but she gets pushed out pretty much on top of the prone guy, who has also taken some chunks of masonry. He is actually under a small pile of it. 

#### LYDIA

We take a lot of hurt! 

#### ALEX

Yep.

#### HAMID

Bertie, drag them outside!

#### BERTIE

Urrrrggggghhh... 

#### BRYN

I'm going to help Zolf up and try and help him move that tiny little bit more quickly --

#### BEN

Yep.

#### BRYN

-- whilst we retreat into the safer section of the church and possibly exit by the same door. 

#### JAMES

Bertie is going to pull the prone man out by the hand that he savaged, pulling him along the ground like that.

#### ALEX

So as you reach down, it becomes clear that the person is unconscious. You don't know if they are stable or not because you're not trained in that kind of thing, but yeah, you drag them. Did you say you dragged them outside or just to the far end of the church? 

#### JAMES

Bertie is going to pull him out of the falling-down building, just outside.

#### ALEX

Sure. So Bertie pulls him out of the falling-down building. We won't fret with the battle map anymore, we are out of combat.

#### JAMES

Okay, cool. 

#### ALEX

Anyone else? 

#### BRYN

We'll head that way as well, but -- 

#### BEN

Will we? 

#### BRYN

-- obviously we're slower because I'm staying next to Zolf to help him. 

#### BEN

I throw myself down the staircase -- is there an upper floor left? 

#### ALEX

Looking up, it looks like they have tried to do what they did with the Simulacrum, which is: someone's trying to get in, you blow out all of the staircases to buy yourself some time. The steeple staircase appears to have caved in on itself, and the stairway to the second floor also seems to have caved in. It doesn't look like there's been a massive enormous nuclear explosion and it's all gone off and destroyed enormous amounts of...

#### BEN

So assumedly this guy has, unless there's another way out, trapped themselves up the steeple. 

#### ALEX

Presumably. 

#### BEN

Cool. Are there -- I mean, I'm assuming there's quite a lot of sawdust and splinters just lying around, bits like that? 

#### ALEX

Yeah. 

#### BEN

Cool. I'm going to use Spark to set one of those piles alight and burn him out. 

#### ALEX

Okay. 

#### BEN

And that's -- when I say set one of them alight, it's one of the upper ones, not something on our level. So beyond the gap.

#### ALEX

What's the range? 

#### BEN

It is 25 foot plus five per caster level, so a lot. 

#### ALEX

No, that's fine, yeah. It begins smouldering upstairs. 

#### BEN

Yeah, so a 30-foot range. 

#### ALEX

And there don't seem to be any cries from upstairs...

#### BEN

Yeah. It's on a fine object, it's like a flint and steel effectively, so I can set kindling on fire. I can't just go, "Oh, there's a huge fire," so... that might catch, that might not, I don't know. 

#### ALEX

Sure. Certainly, it begins to smoulder. 

#### BEN

Cool. And then I will turn and come back down the stairs.

#### ALEX

Mhm. That's fine. So you all head outside. Do you stabilise or not stabilise the person who's currently unconscious outside? 

#### BEN

Is he bleeding? 

#### ALEX

You'll have to do a heal check. 

##### [Dice rolls]

#### BEN

That is 17. 

#### ALEX

He is. If you don't stabilise him, he will die. 

#### BEN

Stabilise.

#### BRYN

I am going to grab Sasha and ask her to come with me so we can move around, basically to monitor the steeple and the upper floors, if she comes?

#### LYDIA

I'm going to ignore you and I'm going to climb up to that window --

#### ALEX

Sure. 

#### LYDIA

-- so I can see what's up. 

#### BRYN

Yeah, sure. I will go round and watch the outside of the building from the other end. 

#### ALEX

Okay. Sasha, give me a climb check. 

##### [Dice rolls]

#### LYDIA

Oh, another 20. I get them when I don't need them. Okay, 20 plus four. 

#### ALEX

Okay. Now both of you give me Perception checks. 

#### BEN

What do you mean, don't need them?

##### [Group laughter]

#### BEN

Like when you stab the boss in the back!

##### [Group laughter]

#### LYDIA

I'm in that, like, I have just had a lot of knocks on me.

#### BRYN

Oh, yeah, yeah, sure.

#### LYDIA

I would have -- if I could have split that, that's true.

##### [Group laughter]

I did dare.

#### ALEX

You've taken more damage plummeting from a rooftop or from a wall than you would have done --

#### LYDIA

True. Okay, yeah, I take that back!

##### [Group laughter]

I get criticals and they're lovely!

##### [Dice rolls]

#### ALEX

Bertie? 

#### LYDIA

Oh, mine is then, er, 25. 

#### ALEX

So you head round -- I'll deal with Hamid first. Heads round and sees that the steeple appears to have caved in, as has most of the building at that end. They have very clearly done exactly what they did with the Simulacrum and just blown out any way of people following them up there.

You, Sasha, climbing up, see that the smouldering is just beginning to catch. It's right at the end that collapsed in, and it's right near some barrels, and it's just beginning to smoulder. You also see, as you do a quick cast around, what looks like the tip of someone's clothing or something just sweeping over the roof above you, directly above you. 

#### LYDIA

Ahhhh -- ROOF BATTLE!

##### [Group laughter]

Okay, I keep going -- I climb further up. 

#### ALEX

You climb up onto the roof? 

#### LYDIA

Yeah! Should have taken some feats for this...

#### ALEX

And the person on top turns around and sees you. You are now stood at opposite ends of the rooftop. It's lead tile. 

#### LYDIA

Oh, slippery!

#### ALEX

It's a little bit slippy because, I mean, the roof's a little bit leaky and it's kind of muggy next to the Thames, especially in such a closed area. You can see for a distance around you over the side of the compound.

#### LYDIA

Yep. 

#### ALEX

And he's there at the other end wielding --

#### LYDIA

Oh no... 

#### ALEX

-- an oil flask.

#### LYDIA

Yep. 

#### ALEX

Backed up against the edge of the building. And he sees you and doesn't say anything. He's just stood there, sword in scabbard -- it's not drawn -- but with the oil flask in his hand. 

#### SASHA

Mate, come down. We won't... we won't hurt you. We know it was the other guy that's the boss, right? He's the one that started all this. There doesn't need to be anything, anything bad --

#### JAMES

Does Bertie overhear this? 

#### ALEX

Er, give me a Perception check. 

##### [Dice rolls]

#### BEN

It's probably Diplomacy. 

#### JAMES

One! Definitely, definitely doesn't!

##### [Group laughter]

#### ALEX

No. So -- I don't normally like to do this, but it feels quite nice. So while you're having this epic rooftop discussion, which could end in blood, death and tears, there's Bertie just, "How do you like that? How do you like that, there you are?!"

#### JAMES

Yeah.

#### BERTIE

Have a duel, sir, have a duel! Come on!

#### JAMES

Just slapping him about, really.

##### [Group laughter]

#### ZOLF

Leave him alone -- he's had enough, alright? 

#### BERTIE

No he hasn't. Look at him, he twitched! Look, it's a really menacing twitch. 

#### BRYN

I'm still trying to get to a position where I can see. I probably have overheard with my previous Perception roll? 

#### ALEX

You have overheard that Sasha's said something, you can't hear what and you can't see up. The guy's not overhanging or anything.

#### BRYN

No, no.

#### JAMES

There's some voice --

#### BRYN

Yeah. I'm going to back up a bit to somewhere where I might have a chance of seeing what's going on. I probably can't, but I'm going to try. 

#### ALEX

Okay, so the guy's there, backed up right up against the side. 

#### LYDIA

Yeah. 

#### ALEX

Right, er... 

#### LYDIA

I do have a Diplomacy modifier of minus one.

#### ALEX

If you want to talk him down, give me the roll and then try to talk him down, as in, that was just a quick --

#### LYDIA

Yeah, right.

#### ALEX

-- but if you wanted to give it a solid go, give me the roll and then do it.

#### SASHA

Right mate, you've got nowhere to go --

#### ALEX

Give me the roll first.

#### LYDIA

Sorry. 

##### [Dice rolls]

Oh.

##### [Group laughter]

#### BRYN

That die is clearly weighted!

#### ALEX

We're going to quietly give that die to someone else for a little while and you're going to use this die. We're just going to do a little experiment in probability...

#### BEN

That's not how that works!

##### [Group laughter]

#### ALEX

But, erm, yeah -- that was a natural 20 on Sasha's Diplomacy. 

##### [Bryn laughs]

#### LYDIA

Oh my god. I --

#### SASHA

Er, so, mate, I know what it's like, alright? I've been there. I've been... I've been in places where I, I get in situations that I didn't choose, right? Sometimes the guys that have power, they've got you from the start and you don't know what's going on. You don't need to end this jumping off a roof for someone else's battle, mate. I know.

Just come down.

#### LYDIA

It's quite, it's a bit awkward, but it is heartfelt!

##### [Group laughter]

#### ALEX

It makes you think that, like, even the worst character can have a moment of inspiration or a real heartfelt go at it, so yeah.

#### LYDIA

She's not the worst character!

##### [Group laughter]

#### ALEX

No, that what I'm putting -- if you're not the worst then yeah, it's a solid attempt! 

#### LYDIA

Yeah.

##### [Dice rolls]

#### BRYN

I rolled 19 to overhear that. Not for any reason, just so I can... 

#### LYDIA

You hear the speech? 

#### BRYN

Yeah. It touches me, it really does. 

##### [James laughs]

#### ALEX

Do your big soulful eyes leak a tear?!

##### [Lydia laughs]

#### BRYN

Er... yes.

##### [Group laughter]

I would say a single manly tear, but that's a clear lie! 

#### JAMES

Bertie's still there thinking back over his favourite birthday.

##### [Group laughter]

#### ALEX

So, the guy over the top goes --

#### ALEX (PERSON ON THE ROOF)

Right, right, what you want's up on the second floor. Right, it's... it's under a crate. The... Jeremy, he took the plans, right. We've only got the notebook. We haven't got anything else, okay? You can let me...

I get it, okay? But we both know, right, if I turn myself in that ain't going to go well, let's be honest. I ain't going to be turning myself into Other London, it'll be Upper London that have me. I'll tell you what, okay? You just let me go, okay? You've got her, okay? You've got the, er... you've got whatever you came for, okay. You can just let me go. I ain't gonna hurt anyone.

#### ALEX

He literally -- as he's saying that -- pulls out his scabbarded sword, lays it on the table... er, "table"! Lays it on the rooftop in front of you. Pulls out another dagger. Lays it on the rooftop in front of you. Takes off a bandolier of these oil flasks. Lays it on the table.

##### [Group laughter]

#### LYDIA

Stuff! 

#### ALEX

All he's holding is the one oil flask, and he's, like,

#### ALEX (PERSON ON THE ROOF)

It's just insurance, you know how this works. You know you can let me go.

#### SASHA

Right, mate, if there's any traps in here you haven't told us about, if there's anything...

#### LYDIA

Right. Because I recognise this guy, right? 

#### ALEX

He's someone that you've seen around. He probably spent a bit of time with, like, doing some consult work for the Rackets, and stuff.

#### LYDIA

With the gang. Yeah. 

#### ALEX

Nothing like in and deep. 

#### LYDIA

Right.

#### SASHA

If I find that you're messing with us, I will find you. You've seen what I can do.

#### LYDIA

There's a little grin.

##### [Bryn laughs]

My critical stabs! 

#### ALEX (PERSON ON THE ROOF)

I'm not an idiot -- who goes against the Rackets, am I right?

#### SASHA

Yeah, who does? 

#### ALEX (PERSON ON THE ROOF)

Well, like I said, just let me go and don't try and open the door to the hut. 

#### SASHA

Alright, right. So you climb down the back of this building and I'll keep the big guy off you. I'll give you ten minutes.

#### ALEX

He sees, hesitation for a moment -- pockets the oil flask and then jumps from the roof across Hamid. You did Perception checks earlier: you look, you see someone leap across the gap and down one floor down onto the roof of the hut, and then, obviously, he's out of your vision again. 

#### BRYN

I've heard what Sasha was saying. I will run to where I can at least see him, but I'm not going to chase him. 

#### ALEX

Okay. 

#### BRYN

I just want to monitor... 

#### ALEX

Yeah. You try as best you can. By the time you get round, you see a person leaping bodily from that rooftop out over the wall, which wasn't enormously high, and then he's gone on the other side of the wall. 

#### BRYN

Yep, fair. Fair, fair, fair.

#### ALEX

You hear a splash on the other side. 

#### BRYN

Yeah. 

#### LYDIA

I go and pocket the stuff. 

#### ALEX

Sure. There were two more oil flasks... 

#### LYDIA

Yayyyy! 

#### ALEX

Again, they're not splash, they're just direct hit ones. 

#### LYDIA

I am in the state "Impressed" given that jump. But yeah -- so that's me, and then I'll come and rejoin them. So I come over to that end of the roof and I shout down,

#### SASHA

It's on the second floor, the one you've just set on fire.

#### BEN

You didn't know that.

#### LYDIA

The one that they've set on fire -- what idiots they are! 

##### [Bryn laughs]

#### ZOLF

Darn!

#### BEN

And I'll stomp off quickly!

##### [Group laughter]

I will hurry through the church and up to the staircase --

#### ALEX

Through the destroyed staircase.

#### BEN

No! Up to the bottom of the staircase and then I will cast a Create Water, which has a range of exactly the same as Spark!

##### [Group laughter]

##### [Applause]

#### ALEX

Very nice!

#### BEN

When you said it was -- I was like, "Oh, flick through the spells!"

##### [Group laughter]

"There it is, there it is! Woooo!"

#### ALEX

Okay, yeah, you --

#### BEN

A gallon of water, basically. 

#### ALEX

You just see Zolf dash off: clunk, clunk, clunk, clunk, clunk. 

#### JAMES

He looks like a normal person's walking pace! 

#### BEN

Shall I carry on?

#### ALEX

You -- yeah, you summon the water pretty much over the smouldering pile. It was clear, given time, it would have caught the whole lot. You put it out. It's gone. 

#### ZOLF

Okay, false alarm! I've put out their fire!

##### [Group laughter]

#### BERTIE

You set that fire, didn't you?!

#### JAMES

I give the unconscious man another kick.

##### [Group laughter]

#### ZOLF

Eh, eh, it might not have been him. It could have been the other guy.

#### BERTIE

That's a point! Where's he gone?! 

#### BRYN

I saw you cast Spark, right? 

#### BEN

You can have done. I wasn't being secret.

#### ALEX

He was with you. You get to make the call whether you saw him. Anyway, Bertie asked you a question. 

#### SASHA

Oh, like, he got away. 

#### BERTIE

Urrrrggggghhh... 

#### SASHA

It was quite a jump! One day, I'll be able to jump like that, down to buildings. 

#### ALEX

You know, genuinely, yeah. From a professional standpoint, that person was good. Like, they were good at the kind of things that you are good at. 

#### LYDIA

Mmmm, I'm in the state "Impressed."

#### ALEX

Yeah, proper professional.

#### LYDIA

Maybe a bit of a crush, you know?

##### [Group laughter]

We had a face-off over a rooftop! 

#### ALEX

I'm going to be honest -- he wasn't ugly! 

#### LYDIA

Mmmm.

#### ALEX

Not ugly! 

#### JAMES

Episode 15 and we've not had a single romantic sub-plot yet, apart from the odd bit of eyes meeting across a crowded sewer.

#### ALEX

As far as you know! 

#### JAMES

As far as... ohhhhh.

#### BEN

Hey, it was you and the dog, come on! 

#### JAMES

Say again? 

#### BEN

That was a friendship that was love at first sight... 

#### JAMES

That's true.

#### ALEX

Oh, at which point, the dog comes out and begins to just lick the boot continually -- continuing to lick the boot of the unconscious man. 

##### [SFX: licking noises]

#### JAMES

Bertie's not having that. He's not having this dog fraternising with the enemy. That's --

#### ALEX

You can give me your first Handle Animal to train it not to lick enemies' boots!

#### JAMES

Would that be... because I've read a bit of the Handle Animal. Is that a skill that he then has permanently because I've taken, like, a skill slot of the animal, or...? 

#### ALEX

I'll allow him to have it as a bonus.

##### [Group laughter]

#### JAMES

Fine!

#### LYDIA

We'll have no more attacks, just the boot-licking!

##### [Group laughter]

#### JAMES

It's not being embarrassingly disloyal in public... 

#### BEN

Usually people assume that the animals come from a base level of competence --

#### JAMES

Ahhhh.

#### BEN

-- so I think if you build him up to that point and then you'll start...

#### ALEX

You're not at basics level of competence yet. 

#### JAMES

Okay, this is a very foolish dog whose only talent is dribbling and missing doors. 

#### ALEX

Oh, he was clearly on board because he was big, by somebody who said, "I've got a dog, can I join?" Nothing more to it than that.

#### JAMES

Okay, fair enough. So Handle Animal -- yeah, that is, er, plus six? 

#### ALEX

Mhm.

##### [Dice rolls]

#### JAMES

Eight plus six -- 14.

#### ALEX

14? It stops, but you kind of get the impression that you are going to have to do a bit more work on this. 

#### JAMES

Okay! 

#### BEN

And also, to quickly clarify, so the two people we saw at Edison's were Captain Bisection and the unconscious guy, yes? 

#### ALEX

Yes. 

#### BEN

So not that one? 

#### ALEX

The third one is, was not -- 

#### BEN

Fine.

#### ALEX

-- at all at the Simulacrum. 

#### BEN

Mass murder not confirmed. 

#### ALEX

And also was the one that Sasha had a vague memory of seeing around Other London, but there's no... you don't have any backstory. You couldn't say who he is or where he hung out or anything like that. 

#### LYDIA

I'm trying to remember, though!

#### BEN

I was just gauging my reaction to him getting away, that he wasn't one of the two, so... Right, so, erm.

#### ZOLF

I get to make good on my part of the deal! He goes in the Thames. 

#### HAMID

Oh, but, um, Captain Haringay said we should bring them back alive if at all possible. That was our contract, Zolf.

#### ZOLF

Grrrr... Oh, alright.

#### HAMID

And one of them already died. Isn't that enough retribution? 

#### ZOLF

Okay, so, right.

#### BERTIE

Should we question him first, either way? 

#### ZOLF

Okay, just saying, right? Poseidon ain't going to see it that way. I might hurt for this, but er... you're right, it's in our contract and I can't go back on that. Otherwise what kind of mercenary would I be? So, yes. We'll take him back to Haringay. 

#### HAMID

So we should find out what else is in the compound. _(calling)_ Sasha! Sasha, are you okay? Are you coming down? 

#### ZOLF

Oh, I forgot, she said there was something on her crate. I can't get up there, darn it! 

#### LYDIA

I'm still sitting on the roof. I'm having a bit of a, like, "That was such a good jump!"

##### [Group laughter]

#### BEN

Are you still a bit star-struck? 

#### LYDIA

That is the sort of thing that Sasha finds impressive, but now, I suppose, hearing you shout up, I'll go in through the window.

#### SASHA

_(mumbling)_ Useless...

#### LYDIA

Muttering about them --

#### SASHA

Getting the doors exploded, I do everything...

#### LYDIA

Like through the window, and I am looking for the notebook that he mentioned that was by the crate. I am checking for traps, I guess, as I go, but only slightly because they were living here, so... 

#### ALEX

I'll skip ahead. I could get you to roll, some GMs would, it's not worth the time. When you get in the room, you first get a very clear sense of what trap they had set earlier.

#### LYDIA

Mhm.

#### ALEX

It's very obvious that they had set some explosives on structural points on the wood, not the actual stone, to just bring down all of that side on someone. But this side does appear to be un-trapped living space. 

#### LYDIA

Nice! 

#### ALEX

So going through, let's say you have a search around, you're just keeping an eye out for traps. 

#### LYDIA

Mhm.

#### ALEX

Taking the lid off one of the barrels you see it full to the brim of gunpowder --

#### LYDIA

Stuff!

#### ALEX

Proper full to the brim of gunpowder.

#### BEN

Oh good!

##### [Group laughter]

#### BEN

Good thing we shoved in the thunderstone!

##### [Group laughter]

#### LYDIA

Really is... and I shout out,

#### SASHA

I don't know what kind of idiots these guys are -- there was gunpowder and someone sets fire to it! Idiots!

##### [Group laughter]

#### LYDIA

And I go back in. 

#### ZOLF

_(calling back up)_ Yeah! 

#### BRYN

I frown at Zolf. I don't say anything, but I know.

#### BEN

Looking at you going, "Awfully foolish of them, isn't it?"

#### ALEX

Yeah, there's multiple barrels of explosives. You open one crate and it's got, erm, shortswords, some more of those cuirasses. The discarded clothes of the waiters --

#### LYDIA

Right. 

#### ALEX

-- is also draped over something, and yeah, there's a couple of crates arranged around like that very controlled cooking fire... 

#### LYDIA

Mhm.

#### ALEX

And having a search around, underneath one of them you pull out a battered little notepad.

#### LYDIA

Mhm.

#### ALEX

It doesn't have any writing on it whatsoever, it is just a battered notepad. You can skim through, obviously, inside if you want.

#### LYDIA

I will flick through, because if it's mechanical stuff it's probably the right thing. 

#### ALEX

So flicking through, you find a weird scrapbook. Give me... what knowledge do you have? 

#### LYDIA

Only local, so unless it's a guidebook...

##### [Group laughter]

#### ALEX

Okay! Do you not have Appraise? 

#### LYDIA

Oh, yes! I'm very good at appraising! 

#### ALEX

I realise that!

#### LYDIA

I've been... in all the episodes. I just didn't think of a notebook as something you appraise!

#### ALEX

Give me an Appraise check. 

#### LYDIA

Oooh... 

##### [Dice rolls]

A two. To be fair, I needed that for statistics -- that's how statistics work. I need to get one sometime and I'm glad it's on a book.

##### [Group laughter]

So two plus eight. Ten. 

#### ALEX

Ten. Okay, so yeah. Skimming through... 

#### LYDIA

"It is a book!"

#### ALEX

It's, it's peculiar. It's like half-diary, half a couple of work notes in margins and things like that. Skimming through, you see there's a shard of metal which is taped to one of the pages, which is the exact walling that the Simulacrum had... 

#### LYDIA

Right. 

#### ALEX

Going through, you see there's personal messages, there's an origami swan which is just taped to a page and stuff. It just seems to be a scrapbook of random stuff... 

#### LYDIA

This person is a nutter! 

#### JAMES

Or homages to Blade Runner, I mean, that's the other...

#### ALEX

Honestly, it's just this weird mishmash of stuff. If you want to go into more depth I can bring up everything that's written in there, but you'd have to sit down and go, okay, what's this saying, what's this saying? But yeah, it just reads like half-diary, half-scrapbook. It's peculiar.

#### LYDIA

It is not the kind of... well, I mean, I'm interested in devices, but right now I'm in a rush.

#### ALEX

Sure. 

#### LYDIA

I think, so -- because they're all outside, aren't they, while I'm doing this? 

#### ALEX

You definitely see, at some point, there's a couple of sketches of what looks like a cross-section of the head with certain bits and scribbled-out bits. It's a real mess, by the way, it's very much not the public plans that anyone would have been looking for. 

#### LYDIA

So I guess if this is the notebook, then I take that and scan for stuff that I like, because that's the sort of thing Sasha does.

#### ALEX

Mhm.

#### LYDIA

But then I just join you guys outside?

#### BEN

To mention, out of character, he did also mention there were blueprints. 

#### LYDIA

Okay. Oh, but that's... Okay. 

#### BEN

Unless I misheard it.

#### JAMES

No, he said the plans had been taken --

#### BRYN

Didn't he say Jeremy left with the plans? Did I overhear that? I can't remember. 

#### ALEX

Yes, you did. 

#### BRYN

I did. I did hear that. 

#### LYDIA

I assume that you're then telling them that?

#### BRYN

Yes, I will mention that. 

#### LYDIA

So I will, if there's nothing else for me to nick, I will head off. 

#### ALEX

There's a few things in there -- scraps of food and things, but honestly, it seemed like they were wearing upon them most of the things that you were interested in anyway. 

#### LYDIA

The thing is, I am absolutely zero money, like zero. So even a few coppers on the floor I would pick up. 

#### ALEX

Yeah, rogues tend to be equipment-rich. You find, let's say a couple of coppers but... 

#### LYDIA

Enough for some jellied seals!

##### [Group laughter]

#### ALEX

Jellied *seals?!* I'm pretty certain it can't be a silver. 

#### JAMES

Much harder to carry around, jellied seals!

##### [Group laughter]

##### [Brutor noises]

#### BRYN

The dog's going crazy.

##### [Group laughter]

#### ALEX

Oh yeah, that's like a minus 20 on a Will save. 

#### BRYN

Once dog has eaten jellied seal, they never go back to jellied eels! 

#### JAMES

Once you've gone seal you never go back, is that it?

##### [Group laughter]

#### ALEX

Exactly so! 

#### LYDIA

I come out... I climb out and say hello to these guys again.

#### SASHA

Hey!

#### LYDIA

I pass the notebook to you. 

#### ZOLF

Oh, what's this?

#### SASHA

It's the thing that they came for. 

#### ZOLF

Right.

#### SASHA

This is what they... there's no Simulacrum or nothing. 

#### BEN

Take a brief flick through. 

#### HAMID

No pieces of the... 

#### SASHA

Nothing.

#### HAMID

Just that... 

#### SASHA

Nothing at all. 

#### BERTIE

There are two other buildings here that there might be things in, there is definitely stuff in the other --

#### SASHA

Wait, wait, wait, wait -- do not head into --

#### HAMID

There might still be traps.

#### SASHA

-- into the... I'll do that.

#### ZOLF

Do what? 

#### SASHA

Er, there's traps on that building. 

#### ZOLF

Which building? There are two. 

#### SASHA

The hut. 

#### ZOLF

The thing on stilts? 

#### SASHA

Yeah. 

#### HAMID

There might be traps on both of them. 

#### SASHA

Yeah. 

#### ZOLF

Well, I mean, look, we've dealt with it, let's have a look... 

#### ALEX

And that's, of course, that you believe the guy -- he never Sense Motive-d him. 

#### LYDIA

Oh, that's true.

#### ZOLF

Let's have a look around at our leisure... 

#### SASHA

Wait! Maybe you guys should not -- the last time--! 

#### ZOLF

Okay, okay, I'll rephrase -- Sasha, go check for traps. 

#### SASHA

Right, boss!

##### [Laughter]

#### LYDIA

I go... erm... 

#### BRYN

Technically, yes.

#### LYDIA

Yeah. 

#### ALEX

I'm going to be honest, I think -- I don't think it's you, I think Zolf's just a bit annoyed that he didn't get to drown anyone today.

#### BEN

Wuh, wuh, whu, whu.... 

#### LYDIA

I will go and check traps on the one that is nearby. 

#### BRYN

The vicarage. 

#### LYDIA

The vicarage. 

#### ALEX

Sure, yeah. You poke your head in, I'm not even going to get you to do a trap check. We'll say that you checked the door for traps, you did not find traps. But looking inside, you find what looks like there used to be a trap on the door that the damp has destroyed -- all of the bits of it are just starting to corrode and it didn't go off. Whoever set this did not know what they were doing! 

#### LYDIA

I'm beginning to -- I'm losing respect for the guy that jumped --

##### [Group laughter]

-- off the church roof.

#### SASHA

Did you see that jump, Hamid?

#### HAMID

It was pretty cool! 

#### SASHA

It was, yeah! 

#### ALEX

Looking around, you see that there are a couple more sealed crates that you can't just open by hand, and there is still one more crate which has yet more weapons in and some shortswords. There's a shield. There's actually a couple of spears... 

#### LYDIA

Mmm.

#### BRYN

Once she's given the all clear I'm going to come in and help the search. 

#### LYDIA

Yep. I tell you guys,

#### SASHA

Right, that one's... take what you want from that, maybe see if there's anything magic.

#### BRYN

I cast Detect Magic, just in case. 

#### ALEX

Yeah, it's all mundane. 

#### BRYN

Yep. 

#### SASHA

Aww... I'll check this one. 

#### ALEX

Okay, I'm going to say -- you know that there is a trap on the door.

#### LYDIA

Mhm.

#### ALEX

As you start to just have a poke around, even without attempting to disable it, you know it's of a significantly higher quality that the others. And you can disable the device, but you aren't going to be, like, "ooh." That's not just a two minute snip and done.

#### LYDIA

Right. What's the Take 10 feat? 

#### BEN

Or 20.

#### LYDIA

Or 20. 

#### BRYN

But that's if there's no penalty.

#### ALEX

You can't do that with traps.

#### BEN

Ahhhhh, right. 

#### LYDIA

Ah.

#### ALEX

Because with a ten, there's a chance that you --

#### BRYN

If you roll too low it might set it off.

#### ALEX

-- fail at least once, which would set the trap off. A 20 is assuming that you fail multiple times. 

#### BRYN

Right, okay. 

#### ALEX

So you could do it for a lock, unless that lock is paired to, say, a dagger that falls from the ceiling and stabs you in the head, or whatever.

#### BEN

Sure. 

#### LYDIA

Right. Um, I'm going to go for it. I mean, I'm feeling pretty pumped about my rogue-y skills today... 

##### [Ben laughs]

...I am possibly to learn dangerous degree... 

#### ALEX

Go for it! 

#### BEN

Roll the dice that gives 20s! 

#### LYDIA

Oh yeah!

##### [Group laughter]

##### [Dice rolls]

23, 24.

#### ALEX

Okay, so that's a 23 total.

#### LYDIA

Yup! 

#### ALEX

Give me a follow up Reflex save.

#### BRYN and LYDIA

Oh dear.

##### [Dice rolls]

#### LYDIA

13 plus six -- 19.

#### ALEX

19?

#### LYDIA

Yep. 

#### ALEX

Right. You open the door. There's a *chhhk,* at which point you see a vial of alchemist's fire drop right in front of your eyes. And we will go super slo-mo with it -- the vial starts dropping and we have that, you know that focus thing you get in film when you look at the thing close up and then you look beyond it? You look at that, and then you look beyond to where there's loads of vials of Alchemist's Fire hanging across the ceiling, and at least 50 barrels of gunpowder are laid up around the walls and stacked in there. 

#### BEN

What?!

#### ALEX

With your Reflex save, you manage to close the door, you don't manage to catch the fire or anything, and just throw yourself backwards. Yep? The entire hut just explodes, just... 

##### [SFX: Explosion]

#### BEN

What did it do to the church? 

#### ALEX

Yeah. So everyone, spell out exactly where you are at this moment. Sasha, obviously you're throwing yourself back as far as you can. 

#### BEN

I'm with the prone guy. 

#### ALEX

Mhm. 

#### JAMES

So am I. So is the dog. 

#### BRYN

I'm in the vicarage.

#### ALEX

So, everyone within 30 feet is going to be taking a flat two D6 plus four damage... 

#### BEN

That's not you --

#### LYDIA

Oh, there's even more... 

#### ALEX

No. Even throwing it closed, if you had failed your Reflex save you would have been taking significantly more. This is mostly from shrapnel and stuff, and we'll get into what happens to the rest of the compound afterwards. 

#### BEN

That's not a trap, that's a massive explosion! 

#### ALEX

I need you to roll your damage.

#### LYDIA

Oh right.

#### ALEX

So if I can get another one, thank you.

##### [Dice rolls]

#### ALEX

So that's seven, eight, nine, ten, 11, er, 11 damage... 

#### LYDIA

I am unconscious. 

#### ALEX

Yep. Doesn't surprise me! So there's a huge explosion. The last thing you remember is basically the whole door just breaking into pieces, flying at you, and you blacked out. The rest of you, there is an enormous explosion -- Hamid, you get a moment to see the blast wave coming towards you before it hits the Vicarage and the entire roof just caves. 

##### [SFX: Explosion]

You guys hear the boom.

#### JAMES

Are you absolutely sure that Bertie hears the boom?

##### [Group laughter]

#### ALEX

We'll say it has -- it's got a nice little resonance with your armour! 

#### JAMES

Oh! 

#### BEN

"I swear somebody threw a stone at me."

##### [Group laughter]

#### BRYN

Two people have just hit gongs on either side of your head!

#### ALEX

At which point, the far side of the church caves in first, and the whole thing starts to cave in, and then the side that is nearest you guys blows out... 

##### [SFX: Explosion]

Both of you give me reflex saves? 

##### [Dice rolls]

#### BEN

16\.

#### JAMES

Er... 14. 

#### ALEX

Bertie, you take... 

##### [Dice rolls]

...two shrapnel damage. And yeah, effectively the front of the church blows out. The whole thing doesn't topple on you, it falls back in on itself, but it throws both of you up against the wall and then --

##### [thunk]

-- both of you are prone. 

#### JAMES

What about the unconscious fella? 

#### ALEX

The unconscious fella is thrown straight up against the wall, and he is just in a heap at the base of the wall.

#### JAMES

He's not having a good day! 

#### BEN

I'll check the guy who's prone. Is he bleeding again or is he... 

#### ALEX

He's bleeding again. 

#### BEN

Stabilise him!

#### ALEX

Yep.

#### ZOLF

Bertie, you look after him, I'll go find Sasha. _(calling)_ Sasha! *Sasha!* 

#### ALEX

And we'll close there! Ohhhhhhh, end of episode! Enormous explosions! Action! Rooftop drama! 

#### JAMES

Da da da daaaaaaahhhh....

#### BRYN

Tune in next week to find out which of our heroes survive!

##### [Group laughter]

#### ALEX

Yep, so that's goodbye from all of us. See you guys! 

#### EVERYONE

Bye! 

##### [Show Theme -- Outro]

#### ALEX

Rusty Quill Gaming is a podcast distributed by Rusty Quill.com and licensed under a creative commons attribution, non-commercial international license. Today's episode was recorded and produced by Alexander J Newall. To comment on episodes, make donations and view links, images, videos and show notes, visit rustyquill.com. Rate and review us on iTunes. Visit us on Facebook. Tweet us on Twitter @therustyquill, or email us at mail@rustyquill.com. Thanks for listening. 

------

##### [OUTTAKES]

#### ALEX

Test, test, test... yeah, good.

#### BRYN

Test... Ahhhhhh... Saviour of the universe!

##### [Group laughter]

#### BEN

I enjoy that that test was basically, Oi, oi, wake up! You good? Steve, Steve, Steve! 

#### JAMES

Steve, Steve! 

#### ALEX

Yeah, Steve's there!

##### [Group laughter]

#### ALEX

Okay.

------

#### LYDIA

Blow upwards through your nose --

#### ALEX

I realise it's a weird one... 

#### LYDIA

-- like a whale.

##### [Group laughter]

#### ALEX

It's my podcasting blowhole -- it's all I use it for.

#### JAMES

Oh, it's for casting the rest of the pod! 

#### ALEX

Ohhhhhhhh...

#### BEN

That's what I was going for! No one got me!