As Good As They Got

**"As Good As They Got"** is the twenty-second episode of *Mountain of Mystery*, airing on August 22, 2023.

The session was DMed by TanisJr93 and hosted on his channel on Twitch.

## Summary

*...continued from session twenty-one*
Debating whether to clandestinely circumvent the encampment of gnolls or confront the pack directly, Lazarus is ambushed by a scout who strikes him with a pair of spear attacks as a dozen creatures rush from the abandoned farmhouse. Prints casts *Haste* on Trouble in her warhorse form, allowing the Druid to race 120 feet to meet the gnolls in the roadway; the Gnoll Packlord strikes the Sorcerer with his glaive as another gnoll attacks Trouble with his spear and two archers strike Prints with arrows. Two more gnolls attempt to bite Trouble while the Gnoll Fang attacks the Druid, after which Sado attacks the Fang with his Breath of the Dragon.

An archer shoots two arrows at Lazarus as the scout attacks him with his spear, but the Rogue dodges all four attacks with a series of defensive maneuvers he learned from his former Commander, becoming infused with Celestial Intensity as he strikes the scout with a vicious uppercut that stuns the creature. Kahlan then hits the archer with a *Fire Bolt* as Cash casts *Call Lightning*, killing two of the gnolls before Prints casts a devastating *Fireball* that kills five more gnolls and severely injures the Packlord and the Fang. Trouble strikes another gnoll with a pair of hoof attacks, killing it as five of the remaining gnolls attempt to flee toward their den.

Sado delivers a flying kick that stuns the fleeing Fang, then uses the gnoll's unconscious body to strike the Packlord before killing the creature with a devastating punch. The remaining scout attacks Lazarus with his spear again, striking him with one attack that the Aasimar does not even bother to dodge as he retaliates with a pair of punches that kill the creature; Kahlan then strikes the fleeing archer with a pair of *Fire Bolts* that kill it as well, at which point Sado follows the last two gnolls into their nearby den, killing them and discovering a gruesome nest of bones; he recovers 78 gold pieces and a silver locket containing a drawing of a young Elven girl.

While Sado searches the den, an Elven woman cautiously approaches the property carrying a pair of daggers, and Trouble, still in her warhorse form, approaches her; the girl explains that she was attempting to rescue some of her family who were taken when the gnolls attacked Alfield. Soon after, the Goliath rejoins the group and telepathically informs Lazarus that everyone in the den is dead, handing the locket to the Aasimar, who immediately recognizes the drawing as the woman and informs her that none of the captives taken by the gnolls are alive. The woman asks if all the gnolls are dead, and Sado reveals that the Gnoll Fang is alive but unconscious, offering to let her take her revenge but advising her against it.

The woman considers for a long moment before dropping her dagger and taking the locket, asking only that Sado: "Make it hurt. Whatever you do: make it hurt." She then starts southward along the Amber Road back toward Alfield as Sado drags the unconscious Gnoll Fang into the den and beats it the rest of the way to death. The party rests shortly to recuperate before continuing northward, traveling another 25 miles before reaching the camping sites at the base of the Vierling Hills by the early evening and bedding down for the night; Sado takes the first watch, spotting two parties camped near an outcropping across the Amber Road, after which Kahlan and Prints take the second watch, discussing the Tiefling's unexpected use of magic.

Endless appears in the midst of their conversation, startling Kahlan, who accidentally hurls a *Fire Bolt* at the Reaper, who catches it. Prints indicates that she needs to speak with Endless, and Kahlan steps away to keep watch; the Sorcerer expresses her concerns over Trouble's safety during their upcoming mission, and describes the lengths to which she is willing to go to keep the Druid alive. During their conversation, Kahlan resummons Mazikeen, who immediately lands on Lazarus's chest as he sleeps; Endless does his best to reassure the Tabaxi of his intentions, after which Kahlan asks about the death of her parents, which the Reaper admits was not quick, though "they gave as good as they got." Kahlan then asks about the likelihood of resurrecting Liam's soul from her ring, and though he warns that such a ritual can sometimes go badly wrong, he promises to "see what [he] can do" before leaving to visit one of the campsites across the road, where an elderly man has died.

Shortly after, Trouble and Lazarus wake to take the third watch, and Lazarus returns Mazikeen to Kahlan, who offers her Ring of Mind Shielding to the Aasimar. He puts on the ring, experiencing a headache before realizing that he is already attuned to a magical ring, and removes the Ring of Feather Falling as Kahlan heads back to sleep; about forty minutes later, Endless returns to speak with Trouble, who asks if Endless will try to stop the team from assembling the fragments of the multiversal monstrosity inside her mind. The Reaper responds by holding out the box containing the bead of darkness, and offers to make a separate deal with Trouble: to allow her to try to contain both pieces in order to prove that she can. Lazarus offers to telepathically connect with her in order to help, but she declines, taking hold of the bead.

The darkness absorbs into Trouble's hand and travels toward her heart, finding and merging with the shard already within her; the Druid's vision goes black, and she sees hundreds of doors moments before hearing the entity dangerously nearby. She flees through doors, passing through a succession of rooms from her recent past until eventually reaching the end of a long hallway and finding an older door that she recognizes with a handle that feels warm to the touch. Opening the door, she finds a young Kenku wearing a green dress inside a small bedroom, and without thinking, she whispers the child's name: "Aja."

*...continued in session twenty-three*
## Notes

* The events of the session occurred on 5-6 Duscar 839 PD.
* Alternate titles for the session include, but are not limited to:
	+ "My Hopes and My Trust"

## Quotes

* "It's easier to sift through ash than it is to go through pockets." – Cash Goldcrest
* "Now I have a spear; I'm gonna name it Britney... I need two of them, and then they can both be Britney. They'll be my Britney spears... It only counts if they come from the Brittany region of France; other than that, they're just sparkling spears." – Capwithoutacountry
* "Know that revenge will not bring back your family or your loved ones, and it may, in this time, give you a moment of peace, but you will always feel a loss. It is best to reclaim the positive memories that you have of your past, and move on from there." – Sado Thuliaga
* "We didn't start the fire, but the world kept turning while these gnolls were burning." – Lazarus Oldman (giving Roguish inspiration to Sado)
* "You all were *very* impressive today!" – Endless
* "First: someone's about to die everywhere. Yes, you're right. I need to know: why were *you* there that day? Why were you there that day when Trouble died, with that egg, and why was my first mission from you to retrieve another piece of that creature? Why do you know *so* much about this thing that we know so little? I do not believe that these are coincidences." – Fresh Prints
* "I gave you that first test because the way you had to accomplish it will help you when you begin your second, and what you have to do for your second will help you on the final, as well as what you had to do on the first. That's how lessons work." – Endless
* "I want to trust you. I really do. You woke me to save Trouble when she was nearly at the mercy of that thing in her head. So many are telling me... You're a god. You are a god of death. You are an entity whose motives we cannot know. I want to trust you. It's... But this is what I need to say: that day in the den, when I had failed, and you were about to take Trouble from me, I was ready to fight you for her. I *know* I would have lot, but I was ready to try. And after I was s– I was so *angry* at you. I wanted to *rage* at you. I wanted to *hate* you for trying to take her from me. But I couldn't, because I had failed, and if I had failed and Trouble was taken from me, it was my fault. I wasn't strong enough back then to save her; wasn't– I hesitated, and I nearly lost her again. And *now* we're being told that the only way to stop this thing that you're having us hunt pieces for is for her to die. For *her* to take it and to likely die. How is this fair to anyone? I... I want to trust you, because I need your help. Whatever challenge, whatever mission, whatever quest you need from me, I will do if it will help her. She deserves life. She deserves life, so I will be death." ‐ Fresh Prints
* "I know many things. Been around a long time. But, unfortunately, I don't have the words to make you trust me. I don't know what to say, what to do. All I can tell you is that I have placed my hopes and my trust in you and your friends. That is not something that is easily earned. You may see me as a god of death, but I am still, or at least was, a person. And it was difficult for me to trust even then. You then spend years living the life that I have, and you see the worst in people. You see them at their end, you see the people that caused those ends, and you lose faith. But there came a day when someone begged me to help; someone told me they were willing to give anything for someone else. And that someone will be worthy of my trust to the end of days. The tests that I'm going to put you through will prepare you for more than just taking my place. I promise you that when the time comes, you will be ready. Until then, you need not trust me. Instead: trust your friends, because with their help, you will get through more than you will ever dream." – Endless
* "Times change; people change; entities can change." – Endless
* "I always hate this question, because no matter the answer I give, it never soothes the ache. No: it wasn't quick, but they gave as good as they got." – Endless
* "I have a rather serious question, and I ask that you hear me out and know we have done nothing to follow through on this yet. But I need to know before we do. There is a plan in place to fully destroy the entity in my head. I think we can do it; it'll kill me, of this I'm certain. But I think we can do it, and I would appreciate the opportunity to try. And that is: to assemble the monster... in me, in my mind, in my labyrinth. To keep it there, and once all the pieces have been achieved, to destroy it and most likely myself. I know when Prints failed, the first time, before she got another opportunity, I do not believe you would have let me live with two pieces of it in me." – Trouble
* "I don't know if I can answer that, because I feel the question is multifaceted. I trust you kill me if you must; if those fuse, and I cannot handle it, it is going to cause enough of an issue, I trust you to rid the world of the problem. I trust you to keep your word, and to allow me this attempt should I succeed. And I trust that you do not want this creature in the world any more than we do. But beyond that... I trust you don't intend to harm Prints... unless you must." – Trouble

## Episode

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