Episode 384 - The Curse of Exhaustion

What if a gift you were given from a “friend” was actually a dang curse!!! We explore this horrid notion on today’s adventure.

## **Story**

### Long Story

It's a nice, quiet dinner with Lucious Incendous and his crew. Everything's going well. Duclaw Honeypaw is making graphic, but hilarious doodles in his peas. What more could you ask for? That's until The Tower of Grey remember that tomorrow, they are going to have to fight and kill all these people. That kinda sucks. They ponder if there is any way they can avoid killing them, even going so far as bribing them to loose peacefully. They ain't about that. Lahni suggests attempting to sneak away and steal all their clothes, so they have nothing to wear. An intriguing idea, until Bercy Hamhands reminds them that they are all going to be Bones tomorrow... Eventually, they all just head off to bed in the castle.

Upon awaking the next morning, Toby is surprised to feel very exhausted. But not just regular, I-just-woke-up-and-have-been-running-around-as-an-adventurer-for-years-with-very-little-breaks-even-after-I-died-recently-yeah-remember-that-that-shit-was-crazy kind of exhausted, but Magically Exhausted. So, the party heads off to a nearby cleric (outside of the palace, since they don't trust them. Hey, remember the last time they elected to run off to a cleric instead of the one in the castle they were in?). The nearest cleric is in The Temple of Mordin, where the priest, a handsome Dwarven woman, charges them 100 gp. She calls out to Mordin, and ascertains that Toby has been cursed! And the focus of that curse is the Ring of Mind Shielding that Doug Rubble gave him back in Episode 374! It's actually a Ring of Exhaustion! That bastard! Oh, well. What can you do? Take the ring off? Nope! It's stuck. Mordin's Priest tells them that he can only get rid of the ring if he transfers it to another willing creature. If this happens, it will vanish from his hand, and appear on theirs. What's more, if he fails to remove the ring, he will acquire 1 level of exhaustion per day, until he dies in 5 days! And then his soul will be sucked into the ring. That part's normal, it's what supposed to happen. But still, not good.

Okay, well this sucks. How can they get rid of this ring? There are a few ideas:

* They could pass the ring between the party members. This, of course, assumes that the exhaustion levels reset themselves. And that they remember to do it.
* Selling it to an un-witting ring buyer. Although, can they live with doing that? Probably.
* They could force someone like a criminal (or politician, what's the difference amiright) to take the ring. Same dilemma as above.
* Run around a part of town where things might get stolen, and have someone steal the ring. Although, this is dangerous, because they might kill them, or steal everything they have.
* They could give the ring to Uthgar. Although, that's... Wait, that's actually a great idea.

The best idea is the one they go with, and so, after transferring the ring from Toby to Skud, Skud tracks down his dear ol' dad. As expected, before the Battle (now renamed to Bone Fire 42), a large tailgate party is going on outside the arena. And in the center of the crowd, being cheered on whilst doing a keg stand? Brody Broheim, aka Uthgar, aka Skud's motherfuckin dad. There are some tense words between the two Broheims/Derringers (where did Skud get the name Derringer?), but ultimately, they are able to convince him to take the ring. Skud tells Brody that he'll be able to do his favorite skateboarding trick with the ring, but as soon as he puts it on, he realizes that it's cursed. Oh well, what can you do?

Finally, it's time for the Battle. As the gates to the arena begin to open, the episode ends...

### Short

The party goes to sleep! And in the morning, Toby finds that the ring Doug Rubble gave him is cursed! It's sucking his life force off, and will kill him if he doesn't find a new host for it. After some ethical deliberation, the ring is transferred to Skud, who tracks down his father, Uthgar, and tricks him into taking the ring. And then it's time for the Bone Battle...

## **Trivia**

* Duclaw Honeypaw was the only Patreon name from Lucious's crew, which is surprising
* The trainers don't die in the Bone card match, which makes Gloom's comment in the last episode, about the last 8 challengers (their cards and themselves) dying, very suspicious
* The meal is just mashed potatoes and peas, but the potatoes are extremely spicy
* Toby has a Kate Aurochs tattoo, her name tastefully in cursive across his ribs
* No one remembers the name of the other Bone Battles, so they decide to call this one Bone Fire 42
* The trick Uthgar couldn't do is called an "Ollie 540 Melon Crap Kick" or Grab kick. Hard to say

## **In This Episode...**

### **Cast and Player Characters**

* Michael DiMauro - *Dungeon Master*
* Tim Lanning - Toby Treacletart
* Jennifer Cheek - Rowan Grey
* Mike Bachmann - Skud Derringer
* Nika Howard - Lahnik "Lahni" Caplain

### **Non-Player Characters**

* Lucious Incendous
* Sharpe Lestat
* Ysla Caine
* Duclaw Honeypaw
* Wordsworth Zics
* Killian Dred
* Pandora Thorne
* Bercy Hamhands
* Mordin's priest
	+ Mordin's priest's receptionist, Bernie
* Brody Broheim

### **Locations**

* The Elemental Plane of Fire
	+ The City of Brass
		- Lucious's Castle
		- The Temple of Mordin

### **Quest Log Updates**

* [On-Hold] - Stop Tiamat!
* [Active] - Destroy The Orb!
	+ [Active] - Find the first missing piece
		- [Active] - Gain access to the Elite Forge
			* [Active] - Defeat Lucious Incendous, Master of the Fire Plane
	+ [On-Hold] - Find the third missing piece
		- [On-Hold] - Investigate the final location
* [On-Hold] - Find Adira Harper
* [On-Hold] - Return to Catherine Beanlord's graveyard in The Elemental Plane of Earth get the body of Tuck Frump
* [Active][Jaeludra] - Investigate the Great Colosseum in Caer

### **Quotes**

* **"Could you imagine the poor motherfucker who works at CVS, that has to pour Corona-juice down my asshole? That sounds bad."** ~ *Tim Lanning, 2020*

* **"Michael, I'd just like to say, I would not mind cathing Brilliant Urine Disease. It makes your pee glow, and a pint glass could substitute for a torch. So, you pee into a pint glass-- I'm on the internet!"** ~ *Mike Bachmann*

* **"Pat was just my patsy in this. Get it?"** ~ *Michael DiMauro*

* **"Toby, I think you're experiencing some exhaustion right now, it's making you what people call, cranky."** ~ *Rowan*

* **"I feel bad about the way we left things before, with me saying 'I wish you were dead' probably. I don't remember if I said that. If I forgot to say that last time, here you go. But, I'm sorry about that!"** ~ *Skud to dear old dad*

* **"This is fuckin' hella cursed, bro! Dude, you fucked me! You fucked me on this! Bro! Yo, who wants a ring? Does anyone want a ring?"** ~ *Uthgar*

## **Rolls**

* **Recap**
	+ Tim - 14
	+ Jennifer - 14
	+ **Nika - 6**
	+ Bachmann - Nat20 - Bapped - Chooses Nika

* **Lahni** makes an *Intelligence* saving throw to see if Lucious's crew are writing mean things in their peas
	+ >13 - re-rolls with a Ki point - 13
		- She accidentally laughs at Duclaw's graphic cartoon

* **Lahni** rolls a *Medicine* check to see what's wrong with Toby
	+ 19+5
		- She senses that this is not natural, but magical in nature

* **Toby** rolls *Intelligence* to see if he knows why he'd be magically exhausted
	+ 25
		- He can't think of anything

* **Skud** rolls a *Religion* check to see if he knows any skateboard tricks that Uthgar doesn't know
	+ 28
		- He knows one

* **Skud** rolls *Deception* to attempt to trick Uthgar into taking the ring
	+ 21
		- He isn't really convinced