The Bible Belt (Episode 2)

**The Bible Belt (Episode 2)** is the second episode from Group Two of The Spectral Index side series.

## The Bible Belt (Episode 2)

### **Show**

Seeing the mimic's teeth bared Bones took out her rapier and *Devil's Grin* *Dagger,* but missed on her strikes on the mimic and finished by activating her *Steady Aim* ability. Cookie took out his maul and hit the mimic with it, with the maul ending up stuck to to one of it's teeth, then finished by pulling out his pistols *Pain & Peril* and fired on the mimic with them. The mimic attacked Bones with it's halberd, which Bones in turn used her reaction to activate her *Uncanny Dodge* ability to cut the damage in half, but missed Cookie with it's longsword. Agnes cast *Spiritual Weapon,* which appeared as a meter stick, and struck with mimic twice with it, getting a verbal response from the mimic.

Bones activated her *Breath Weapon* blasting the mimic with magical energy. Nothing that the mimic had spoken Cookie attempted to ask if fighting was needed, with the mimic responding that Bones had stabbed it's cord and would eat their souls for it. Cookie tried to offer the rat's soul and more rats for their souls to be eaten, but with no good response fired on the mimic with *Pain & Peril* hitting with one of his two shots. The mimic managed to bite Cookie, grappling him within it's maw, leaving Cookie's feet sticking out. Agnes, a little annoyed, cast *Healing Word* on Cookie, but missed the mimic with her *Spiritual Weapon*.

Bones activated her *Breath Weapon* blasting the mimic with magical energy once more. While still inside the mimic Cookie cast *Suggestion* managing to convince it to let go of him. The mimic now bound by Cookie's *Suggestion* magic released Cookie from his mouth, then attacked Bones with it's halberd, which Bones in response used her reaction to *Emanate Telekinetic Energy* and damage the mimic back, and then it's longsword. Agnes checked to see Bones was ok, then cast *Word of Radiance* on the mimic causing it to plummet down, it's chain breaking during the fall and landed on the ground dead.

Cookie started to clean himself up as he took a gold coin and placed it in Agnes's deposit box. After Cookie took a second bemoaning the loss of his maul, they they turned to the door they saw before noting it had no handle on it. Cookie knocked on it and nothing happened. Bones checked the door and noticed above the door was writing in infernal, but was only able to translate "Under tension" from it. Bones asked the others if that meant anything to any of them to negative results. Cookie turned to see the where the mimic's chain was, and noticed in between the sinews and material the end of a rope in it. Both Cookie and Bones attempted to grab it but failed, but on both lifting Agnes up she was high enough to reach and pull down on it. Immediately they heard the sound of the door opening, and a few seconds afterwards a loud, strange, rushing noise could be heard, and got louder as a log swung through the doorway and knocked everyone off the ledge. While in midfall Bones activated her *Gem Flight* and managed to get close enough for Cookie to grab on to her, while Agnes attempted *Divine Intervention* but ended up falling to the ground on top of the mimic corpse. Agnes stood up, spat out a little blood, and took out another of her bonbons while cursing. Cookie took a moment to grab his maul, then cast *Aura of Vitality* to help heal everyone back as they climbed up the stairs again, and saw the swinging log connected by a rope and assumed it was attached to the rope they pulled.

They went through the door and saw a hallway which they could tell was obviously trapped with all manner of traps every 5 feet. Cookie commented on whether the people who made the trapped hallway took any pride in their work. Bones asked with his knowledge if he knew how to get past. Cookie suggested trying to disable them if possible, and took out his maul, and started to disable them with his maul as best as he could making a relatively safe trail for the others all the way to the end. Cookie questioned if this room was to stop people leaving or to keep them out, and suggested they might not be alone. At the hallway end they see an open archway, and going through found themselves in a very large room, on a 20 feet platform, with no walls, ceiling or floor, floating platforms moving around the space. Close by they could see a little white streak perpetually falling and every and every now and then letting off a sound as it broke the sound barrier. They noted the sound was similar to the one they heard from the other room with the difference being it was a single sound instead of multiple. While discussing some ways to get passed, Bones took one of her ball bearings and dropping it to see if there was a floor that was hidden, only to see it start to perpetually fall while gaining speed. Cookie had a look around for any ideas, and noted there a way to get across with minimal effort, but about 80% of the way in made the assumption that a platform that should be there was no longer there. Noting the path, Cookie took out a rope and had everyone tie themselves with it so they were connected together. They started to make their way across the platforms to the point where it stopped, and when the got close the the falling white streak realized it was a bean, and who was responsible for it. Looking from the position they were in they could see two more floating platforms, a regular platform similar to where they started, and passed that, a round room with something perpetually spinning very fast. With little options available they decided, Agnes reluctantly so, to let out a little more rope and throw something heavy a.k.a Agnes as an anchor to get to the next platform over the blank space and managed successfully. A little annoyed Agnes tried to feign like she was dead to guilt the two of them, but were both able to see her breathing. Bones dug her feet into the platform while Cookie used the rope to get to the other side with Agnes, and with the two of them Bones was able to easily make her way to the other side with them.

They manage to make their way over the last platforms and to the circular room. They immediately notice the same metal panels from the magnetised hallway from before and looking above at they saw that the item that was perpetually moving was a firearm, with an arrow in it. Deciding that it was too dangerous to leave there, Cookie opened up his *Bag of Holding*, and after a few attempts managed to position it so it was in the firearm's trajectory and caught it inside. Agnes stepped into the room and was immediately pulled against the wall, but did notice they weren't as strong as the previous ones were and that she could easily shimmy across the wall and to the other side. Cookie and Bones follow suit and do the same and make their way to the other side.

They turned and saw a really elegant hallway, but with a trail of brownish paste that goes down the hallway. Bones checked and found they were crushed baked beans. After cursing The Bad Bean Boys realizing it was from them, they looked at the hallway and noticed the ornate banners and silks on the walls, the nicely carved stones and nice carpet. They continued down the hallway following the baked bean paste noting that it went up a circular flight of stairs. They stopped a little annoyed and confused why they would have made this trail as well as the amount of beans. Cookie decided to cast Acid Splash to melt away some of the bean mess as they started to go up the stairs.

**That is where we leave Episode 2!**

#### **Post-Show Shenanigans**

* Darrin congratulates them for making it past the first portion of the Astral Spire, as well as saying they ran into some of the troubles the other group left behind.
* Darrin re-introduces himself and ABSQ, and thanks his three special guests from the TTRPG Twitter community taking part in this side story who can all be found on twitter
	+ **@D8Dungeon** **(Declan)** the dm from "Romancing The Dungeon", playing as **Sister Agnes Hellwig** - Dwarf, Life Domain Cleric
	+ **@DndTravellog** **(Steven)** one of the dms from "The Travel Log", playing as **Cookie Conrad** - Yuan-ti, Battle Smith Artificer
	+ **@DnDingbats** **(Grace)** the dm from "Dungeons & Dingbats", playing as **Billie "Bones" Barraquette** - Emerald Dragonborn, Swashbuckler Rogue

1. ↑ See "The Bad Bean Boys (Episode 2)" at 47:25. The white kidney bean that Flint had accidentally left behind.
2. ↑ See "The Bad Bean Boys (Episode 2)" at 41:11. The platform destroyed by Flint's earlier attempt.
3. ↑ See "The Bible Belt (Episode 1)" at 57:02.
4. ↑ See "The Bad Bean Boys (Episode 2)" at 53:48. Flint's pistol that he failed to send through to avoid the magnetic panels.
5. ↑ See "The Bad Bean Boys (Episode 2)" at 55:14. Quil's failed attempt to retrieve Flint's pistol.
6. ↑ See "The Bad Bean Boys (Episode 3)" at 09:17. Flint's *Decanter of Endless Beans* opened leaving a trail unknown to them at first.