RQG 118 - Pop

## Content Warnings

Kidnapping (adults & child, off screen), injury, forced insomnia & nightmares (magical)

## Summary

Grizzop heads to Damascus with the orcs to report the location of the water theft, while Azu, Hamid, Sasha, and Einstein take on an unseen attacker in Rome.

## Synopsis

After marching the few hours to Damascus, Grizzop and the orcs make it to the Meritocratic offices in the afternoon. Rumours are flying around the city about the Meritocrat’s visit up the mountain, but no one really seems to have the story straight. The majority of the orcs spread themselves around and pick up odd activities to come off as less of a threat, on Bronc’s orders, while he and Grizzop head in to talk to Wilde. With a little effort, they are pointed to office 47b where they find him bloodied and face down at his desk.

      Back in Rome, Hamid scrambles outside to help Sasha while Azu and Einstein continue working on putting on armour. He can't see Sasha, but has a good idea where she was based on the damage. Sasha yells that it is invisible before being knocked out cold and tumbling down the ruins to the ground. Azu gives up on the armour, with only grieves and gauntlets donned, and races past Hamid, who points her in the right direction, to stabilize Sasha.

Hamid closes his eyes and listens for the creature, pinpointing it directly above his head. In a desperate attempt to damage the thing, he casts *fireball* on himself, bursting into a ball of flame. The creature cries out amid the dust cloud Hamid created. As the flame dies away, Hamid is still standing, in tattered clothes, but alive.

In the office in Damascus, Bronc calls for assistance, while Grizzop checks vitals and attempts to heal Wilde, after two heals, he is still unconscious, at which Grizzop lifts his head to find that the blood is coming from his nose and ears. Bronc gets someone to get the office cleric, a follower of Dionysus. The cleric claims Wilde is just really tired until he takes the time to actually check, which shows him that there is actually an outside force involved.

The creature goes after Azu, hitting her hard. Einstein attempts to distract the thing with noise and theatrics. Azu takes a swing at the spot where the creature had been a second before, and buries her greataxe in it. As she tries to dislodge it from the body, she over-balances and her second swing clinks into the wall behind her. The blade leaves a slash, dripping an oil-like substance, floating for a moment, that fades quickly, but the thing cries out.

Hamid fires a pair of *scorching rays* at the place Azu just landed a hit. One slams into the wall, puffing dust and bringing the creature into view for the first time. The other lands squarely and as the fire ripples across it, the whole thing flickers into visibility revealing a dripping, oily, amorphous blob that immediately catches fire and burns away.

They head back to the basement, Azu carrying Sasha, Einstein heading back to his pot.

The Dionysus cleric and Grizzop are not getting on in Damascus while trying to diagnose Wilde's malady. The cleric knows magic is involved and spends a bit actually trying to figure out what is up while attempting to heal him. Wilde comes to with no idea what happened. He says the temples couldn't help him. Upon request, Grizzop starts giving him a quick rundown of why he was there in the first place, before sending the cleric and orc leader out of the room. He explains the hostage situation and that the others have headed to Rome. He then requests assistance in getting back with his friends.

Wilde explains that he has been unable to sleep and is not willing to allow anyone to cast stuff on him because of the political climate.

Grizzop takes Bronc to meet with the mayor about the river and gives him as shining a review as a grouchy goblin can with threats, before heading off with Wilde to the temple of Artemis together to try to take care of his sleep problem.

Azu decides that Sasha will freeze to death if left unconscious and alone, so she and Einstein curl up with her to rest.

## Quotes

**Alex**: "And with me today, I have:"
**Ben**: "Tis me, Ben, on one hundred twice nine."
**Bryn**: "Bryn Monroe"
**Lydia**: "Lydia Nicholas for who knows how long."
**Helen**: "And Helen Gould."
**Alex**: "And who are you playing?"
**Ben**: "Grizzop drik acht Amsterdam."
**Bryn**: "Hamid Saleh Haroun al-Tahan."
**Lydia**: "Sasha...like, what would her epitaph be...Racket."
**Bryn**: "Is it worth introducing your whole character at this point?"
**Alex**: "We hardly knew ye; she preferred it that way."
―Player and character introductions.

"Literally, Sasha’s gonna die to a wardrobe malfunction."
―**Lydia**

"I don’t know if I respect your craft anymore!"
―**Lydia, to Alex.**

**Grizzop**: "Wilde, you in here?"
**Alex**: "Yes, he is! Face-down, covered in papers, with a small amount of blood around his head.I’m gonna jump to the party in Rome."
**Helen**: "Oh my god!"
**Alex**: "Everything’s going so well!"
**Helen**: "Nooooo!"
**Alex**: "It’s all so good! Everything’s going so well!"
**Bryn**: "It’s fine, it’s fine, I’m gonna murder Alex."
**Alex**: "Not if I murder you first!"
―Grizzop searches for Wilde.

**Alex**: "Question, do I go for hard, brutal fatality, or dramatic and run the risk of not killing Sasha?"
**Helen**: "*What do you think?*"
**Alex**: "Okay, I’m gonna go for hard, brutal fatality."
―[add context]

**Ben**: "What’s dramatically better? In your hour of need, calling on Aphrodite to save one of your friends?"
**Helen**: "No, I cannot, I cannot, I cannot risk then accidentally properly killing her when it’s like, mostly my fault we’re here. Have you not factored in the guilt?"
**Lydia**: "I mean, like, I’ve now got a chance to die in people’s arms, which is fine. Oh, but dying and never finding the body would have been kind of cool."
―Azu stabilizes Sasha.

**Bryn**: "I close my eyes. I listen for it. I can’t see it anyway, my eyes are only gonna confuse me. Halflings have keen senses. Dragons canonically at high enough level, and a dragonborn sorcerer at high enough level gets blindsight."
**Alex**: "That’s at high enough level."
**Bryn**: "Yeah, I don’t have it."
―Hamid searches for their invisible assailant.

**Alex**: "So that was another natural one on the imposed stealth check for the permanently invisible creature. God!"
**Ben**: "It’s used to being invisible so it just clatters about the place. "
**Bryn**: "I wasn’t looking."
**Alex**: "It’s immediately above you."
**Bryn**: "And close overhead?"
**Alex**: "Sorry, sorry, that was Alex giving a silent approving nod."
**Bryn**: "I cast *fireball*. On myself."
**Helen**: "Nooooooooo!"
**Ben**: "Hero Hamid! Hero Hamid!"
―Hamid casts Fireball on himself to target the invisible creature above him.

**Alex**: "That’s a lot of dice."
**Helen**: "That’s so many dice."
**Alex**: "Are you forgetting something before you roll?"
**Bryn**: "What?"
**Alex**: "You’re in Rome, baby."
**Bryn**: "The thing is, if it goes wrong I just explode anyway, right, so it has the same exact mechanical outcome."
**Alex**: "Maaaaaybe."
**Ben**: "But it might be maximized."
**Bryn**: "Ohhhhhh god."
**Alex**: "Oh Ben!"
―Bryn has to roll the "Rome-is-awful" roll.

**Alex**: "What’s the damage you’re reflexing against? Because I fear it’s a fatal amount."
**Helen**: "Ohhhh Bryn."
**Lydia**: "Oh yeah, it’s like immediate failure."
**Helen**: "I’m not even looking your way, I’m gonna turn around and you’re gonna be dead."
**Alex**: "What is it?"
**Bryn**: "63 damage."
**Ben**: "You can’t halve that! You can’t take that halved."
**Alex**: "Even halved you’re still going down."
**Bryn**: "I have fire resistance 10."
**Alex**: "Would you like me to roll first or would you like to roll first on the reflex?"
**Ben**: "Roll at the same time."
**Alex**: "Yeah, alright! On three, Bryn, on three."
**Bryn**: "Guys, I’m honestly not sure I can look. This literally kills me instantly if I fail this this Reflex save."
―Bryn prepares to make a vital Reflex save.

**Lydia**: "No, take me! It’s much better if Sasha dies, everyone wants to see him turn into a dragon."
**Alex**: "I know."
**Ben**: "But what if he just popped?"
**Lydia**: "But what if!"
**Ben**: "There was too much dragon inside him!"
**Alex**: "Oh, no, this is so bad."
―Hamid might pop.

**Bryn**: "The DC of the save is 18. I’m genuinely shaking right now."
**Lydia**: "I can’t handle, I cannot handle, I literally can’t even."
**Helen**: "I am going to faint."
**Bryn**: "My reflex bonus is 8, this is a 50/50 chance."
―Tension as Bryn makes a Reflex save.

**Ben**: "One, two, three."
**Bryn**: "Yesssssss!"
**Ben**: "Ohhhhhhhhh!"
**Helen**: "Oh my god!"
**Bryn**: "I survived! I survived!"
―Hamid successfully survives the *fireball* he cast.

**Alex**: "Let’s do this from Azu’s standpoint. Hamid, he takes his little step, he closes his eyes, goes quiet for a moment. Booom! Massive explosion, like blowing the fronts of buildings explosion, like really potent explosion. There is then a cry from above Hamid. You have no idea what it is, you can’t even see what was there, even if it was revealed, because of all the dust and stuff that’s thrown up. At the end of it, Hamid is still stood there, in a small crater, surrounded by scorch marks, his little clothes in tatters."
**Hamid**: "Oh dear!"
―Hamid successfully survives the *fireball* he cast.

"Oh dear."
―**Grizzop finds Wilde passed out on his desk.**

**Grizzop**: "Okay, Wilde’s out, apparently he overworked, I don’t know."
**Ben**: "I lift his head up, because there’s blood coming out from somewhere."
**Alex**: "Ears and nose."
**Helen and Lydia**: "Oooooo"
**Grizzop**: "Ooo, his brain might’ve popped."
**Bronc**: "Can that actually happen?"
**Grizzop**: "Arcane caster, no idea, probably, might turn into tentacles or something. It’s weird. Anyway, right, so he’s not dead. Great. Might be brain dead. Not so great. So, let’s go tell someone."
―Grizzop finds Wilde passed out on his desk.

**Cleric**: "Yeah, he’s just really tired."
**Grizzop**: "Okay, why’s he bleeding out nose and ears then?"
**Cleric**: "Just seems really tired to me."
**Grizzop**: "Cool, well, next time I sleep and bleed from the ears and nose, I’ll be with you."
―Grizzop tries to figure out what's wrong with Wilde.

**Cleric**: "Hmmm, well that’s strange. He’s not just tired."
**Grizzop**: "Oh really?"
**Cleric**: "Brain might’ve popped."
―Something is very wrong with Wilde.

**Grizzop**: "What’ve you been up to?"
**Wilde**: "I have no idea."
**Grizzop**: "You didn’t take our advice, did you?"
**Wilde**: "What advice?"
**Grizzop**: "Sleep. You were facedown on your desk, bleeding from the ears and nose."
**Alex**: "Tries to stand up. And sits back down again."
**Grizzop**: "Sit down. That is a puddle of you."
**Wilde**: "Okay. I’m, uh…"
**Grizzop**: "You need to go to a temple and get yourself sorted out."
**Wilde**: "Tried that, didn’t work."
**Grizzop**: "Go to a better temple and do that."
**Wilde**: "Tried that, didn’t work."
**Grizzop**: "Okay, Wilde. Well…"
**Wilde**: "Look, I’m not fit...what’s up? What you need?"
―Wilde is not fine.

**Grizzop**: "What’s happening to you? This isn’t...is someone poisoning you?"
**Wilde**: "If they were that’d make things a lot easier, I don’t know what’s happening. I haven’t slept in a long time. That’s not by choice."
**Grizzop**: "Right. Get someone to cast *sleep* on you?"
**Wilde**: "I’m really reticent to get anyone cast things on me these days. Cause things are...things are more complicated than when we started out, aren’t they?"
―Wilde confesses that he hasn't been sleeping due to nightmares.

"Look, let’s go to the Temple of Artemis. If we can trust anyone, we can trust them. They’ll be able to cast *sleep* on you and maybe...I don’t know, I don’t know, if I hadn’t found you, you might have just bled out on your desk, and no one wants to die at work."
―**Grizzop tries to find a way to help Wilde.**

**Alex**: "you reckon you can stop her dying, but you don’t reckon you can get her on the path to health freezing in a basement. That’s not conducive to care."
**Helen**: "Am I gonna have to cuddle Sasha."
**Alex**: "you tell me."
**Helen**: "I think I’m gonna have to cuddle Sasha."
**Lydia**: "She doesn’t resist."
**Ben**: "Things really are bad."
**Alex**: "The most fulsome hug Sasha’s had in years."
―Azu keeps Sasha warm through the night.

## Dice rolls and Mechanics

* Grizzop makes a Heal check: 7. Wilde is alive.
* Grizzop uses lay on hands to heal Wilde for 6 hit points and cures fatigue, he uses it again and heals another 3.
* Grizzop makes a Knowledge (religion) check: 14. He knows that the Dionysus cleric is a higher up.

## Combat breakdown

Combat continued from previous episode.

**Initiative:** Sasha (27), Hamid (25), invisible enemy, Einstein, Azu (1)

**Round 2**

* Hamid: Moves out of the basement, rolls 30 on a Perception, sees damage, but no Sasha, moves toward it.
* Invisible enemy: Attacks Sasha and does 11 damage, taking her down to -7. Moves over Hamid, who fails a Perception check with a 16.
* Einstein: Continues armour assistance.
* Azu: Uses full move action to move to Sasha and passes a Heal check with a 19 to stabilise her.

**Round 3**

* Hamid: Rolls a 21 to isolate the square in which the invisible enemy is located. It critically fails its opposed Stealth. It is in the square immediately above him. Hamid casts *fireball* on himself. A Nat 1 on the "Rome is awful" roll causes the spell to "fail", maximizing it with maximum damage of 63.
* He rolls a 18 (10+8 modifier), hitting the saving throw DC exactly, taking 21 damage with his 10 fire resistance. The invisible enemy also makes its save and takes 31 damage.
* Invisible enemy: Rolls a 2, but still hits Azu's unarmoured AC of 9. She takes 31 total damage from 2 attacks.
* Einstein: Moves 20 feet out of the building and tries to get the enemy's attention.
* Azu: Mischance roll for invisibility fails, Azu rolls a nat 20 to hit, but doesn't confirm with a 16, rolls 12 damage. Misses the second attack with a nat 1.

**Round 4**

* Hamid: Takes defensive posture and fires *scorching ray*. The "Rome is awful" roll lets the spell succeed AND maximize. Concealment fails for one attack and works for the other. Rolls a 14 against its touch AC and hits it for the maximum damage of 28. The enemy loses its invisibility as it dies.