Bloodstone #34 | Castle Dracula pt. 1 | Terra Prime

[00:00:00] You're listening to a Saturday Night Gaming Podcast, Bloodstone, run by the Game Master, Scott Hibbard. Hope you enjoy!

[00:00:37] The final leg of the journey. The beginning of the end. You have all finally hit Tier 4, Level 8. As you are practically on the doorstep of Dracula. This castle is high above you, in the mountains, as you're taking a rest.

[00:01:09] And let's recap here. From last time, and how you got to this point. I remember it was a furry turtle. I'll get to that in a minute. Last time on a Bloodstone, the road to Dracula's throne became a pilgrimage through sacred soil, haunted fields, and judgment in the mire.

[00:01:32] At the shrine of St. Vanessa, beneath candlelight and snapping prayer ribbons, he laid what remained of Mike into holy earth and waited. What rose was not quite the same companion who had been torn apart on the cliffs of Dagger Reach. The shrine remade him, larger and stranger, his spirit now cleaner, brighter, and far more fragile. The curse that once tethered him to endless rebirth has been washed away. If he falls again, there may be no second chrysalis. The mountain gave him back, but only once.

[00:02:04] From there, you descend into the Sanctum Vale, where fear lives on every hedge and every silver charm nailed to a fence post. Farm steeds huddled underneath the shadow of Dustborn Manor, and the air itself pressed against your thoughts with a touch of psychic predators watching from above. Even the shepherds stared like they expected the dark to swallow you before nightfall. Then the world soured into the Gravenmire.

[00:02:31] The green dived beneath your boots, replaced by warm mud, metallic fog, and skeletal trees mourning over black water that reflected nothing at all. Something ancient stirred beneath the bog, and before you could trace a source, a spectral army came. Warriors and archers manifested inside your formation, cold light wrapped in judgment. Above them floated a high seraph. Radiant and terrible, her spear leveled not at the group, but at Greg.

[00:02:58] Her verdict reigned across a swamp in a chorus of ghostly voices. Guilty. Battle erupted in a storm of spectral force and desperate precision. Sybil's conjured wall carved straight through the enemy ranks, consuming lesser spears and trapping a seraph in a prison of ghostly stone. Greg answered with an impossible calm, stepping through incorporeal foes to strike her at the heart.

[00:03:27] Travian tore open another wound of leaking radiance, causing her to leak radiance. The traveler bent time around a tracking shot that left her exposed. Ulrich descended like a falling cathedral. Hammer first, and together you drove the seraph to the brink. We should try to turn her bleeding light into a cataclysmic blast. Mike sealed her inside a containment bubble, silencing the attack before it was ever born.

[00:03:57] Still, her army answered, relentless volleys. Spectral arrows hammered a group, and Greg, still marked by judgment, bore the worst of it until he collapsed beneath the punishment. The healing field and Mike's restorative power dragged him back from the dark, while Sybil and Lena hexed the closing warriors. Then came to finishing glow. Mike shifted into a monstrous shell-backed beast, all thorn and snapping armor. And Ulrich seized a moment of brutal creativity.

[00:04:27] First came the spinning hammer of wrath, then came Mike, hurled behind it like a living meteor. Hammer and shell struck in perfect sequence, obliterating the high seraph in a single catastrophic impact. The moment she shattered, her entire army vanished with her, swallowed by the fog as if the swamp had only drained them. And then the mist parted. There, impossibly high above the dagger-reach rose Castle Dracula, obsidian spires pierced a stormlit sky.

[00:04:56] Windows glaring like ancient eyes, its silhouette lesser fortressed and a verdict carved into the mountain itself. A low bell-like toll drifted down from its heights, slow and patient, as if the castle itself had felt your approach and improved the next move on board. Now you camp at the foot of the ascent. The stones ahead have been worn by centuries of pilgrims, hunters, fools, and victims.

[00:05:20] Above them waits a sovereign older than the church, older than the empire, older perhaps than the curse itself. And he has been expecting you. Wait, who told him? We can ask him. We had to get to that. When he said the word guilty, did you not think of the beginning of the serpentine? Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!

[00:05:49] For Terran's stand. Sorry, I'm stuck on the belt towing. I'm still not for him. The belt tolled for Terran's stand. That makes sense. And there you go, I just shared a picture of Castle Dracula for you. Castle Drac. That looks like Castle Doom. It may be your doom. Is that the middle of that thing? Well, it looks like a pretty place.

[00:06:15] It's probably hell for the workers to get up and down this hill just to go up there to dust some shit. I feel like it'd be bigger. I'm disappointed. All it needs is some chandeliers and some peep curtains. I ordered my groceries. It's 2020 and we're all stuck inside and I ordered my groceries and it's taken a week for them to get here. Meanwhile, halfway up the driveway, dead and rotting corpses with grocery bags.

[00:06:45] Oh no. He gets his flung down. Amazon Drive. Right. Alright, so y'all have taken a long rest. Alright, so with a long rest. Hey, what did you clear during your long rest or what did you do during your long rest? I just have a question. Is there anything on here that says to your whore or just level up? Just level up. Okay, that's fine.

[00:07:15] So, chronically, I cleared up all my hit points or all my, yeah, my stress and HP are all clear. Okay. Cool. So you use your two downtime actions to clear those. Yeah, because I think either Lena or, I can't think of her name. Sybil? Sybil.

[00:07:45] Sybil Nightshade. And I shared a downtime action to prepare or just heal each other and then Ronnie and I shared a downtime action to heal and prepare to clear off all the stresses and all the HP and all that. Okay. And Mike cleared all of his, right? I cleared everything using my clarity of nature to clear the stress. So you get two downtime actions.

[00:08:15] Yeah. And you can use one of them to clear something like, since it's long rest, you need to clear all those. Almost death. So it could be armor, health or stress. You choose one of those for each action. Health. Okay, so that's one of them. There's one health? No, no, you clear all of this. Oh, that's okay. Because I was almost there. Here. And then for my other, oh, thanks. Oh, I got a baby one? Yeah. Nice. And then your other one. I'm going to clear the armor. I think that's a good idea. There you go. It's done.

[00:08:44] Alright, so that's both of your actions. Does anybody still have stress marked? I do. I need something to do with the after. So what does it do for you? I cleared my health, but I have to pray to my God and I still have two stress. Clear those. They may have anything they want cleaned. I got a baby wipe here. Because I had two remaining. Long? Sure. I've got three things I can do.

[00:09:16] Oh yeah, because your health is powerful. Yes. She can make a potion on all of her. Alright, so I cleared my HP. He cleared my stress form, maybe something. And then I did a prayer, so now I'm at six favor with my God. Awesome. Okay. Because my clarity of nature appears equal to my instinct. To what? And my instinct went up my toe. Oh. Does anybody have an extra thing to prepare with Sybil Lightshade?

[00:09:45] I had to use both of mine. I used both of mine, so yeah. Do you want to hang out with the... He prepared for one of his, so yes. Yeah. You can prepare with him. Yeah. I'm going to clear my stress and age. I think you're up to six hope now, right? Sure. Oh. Well that's gone. Can I see your baby? I'm going to get that later. Can I use your baby? Yeah, yeah. It's for everybody. It's a community.

[00:10:15] That's for the first preparation. Pass it around. Pass it around. There's no insurance involved. It's a baby buddy. How does the armor, or yeah, the armor thing work? Do they have? You spin an action to clear it. Okay. To repair it. Okay. Mechanically, yeah. Lorewise you're stitching your armor up or something. Okay, so... I have a hammer on me. Just hammering out in the vents. So I just used one of my downtown actions to do the HP and then want to do stress. So you can use the third one to do armor? I know. I want that.

[00:10:45] I'm fine. If you wanted to. No. Also, just so you know, if you all can help each other too, so if you ever get into a point where it's like, I don't really have much to clear, but I can clear something for somebody. Right. You know. So. Which, yeah, he took away my stress. He sang me a song. Yeah. It was beautifully sung, by the way. It was, I kissed a girl and I think I liked it. I had never heard it rendered that way. Or mashup. It was a mashup.

[00:11:13] He kissed a girl because he had a girl crush. Yes. As a slime, it was unique. Well, actually, until the end of the long rest, I was a bear turtle. Which made it so weird for me. It sounded kind of funny. But, you know, it was all good. It was de-stressing for me. Thank you.

[00:11:41] Incidentally, I don't actually have to drop out of that form. I just have chosen to. It's like wearing clothes. Yeah. I don't have to. I choose to. Yeah. And everybody thinks? You for that. Yeah. Right now, I look more like that. All right. So as you complete your long rest. I have a lot of books. That's true. I do have a lot of books. You have a free library if you ever decide to marry him.

[00:12:10] He also keeps a broken teacup in the cupboard. Now it's a plain. He has a chip. Cardboard crack. Don't tell them that. I think I'm going to ask why I... I think I'm going to ask you your dealer is. You bring home six figures a week? I've been all busted. Marvel veterans.

[00:12:41] This has been Dating Service with Flintstone. Oh. All right. Now, back to our regularly scheduled program. And turning the page. Oh, no. Why are those pyramids crooked? Damn. There we go. It's back. It's back. All right. Okay, the pyramids are alive. So as you complete your long rest and you gather your belongings, you prepare for the

[00:13:11] next stage of your journey. You are the crossroads of sorts. Whoa. Yeah, a path that leads up to the cliff side. And you got one that kind of leads around the cliff side. Now, as you are looking at the different paths to take, you receive a visitor. Like? You recognize him. It's Victor. Hey, how you doing?

[00:13:39] You got us in so much trouble. I mentioned your name once and everybody that's your kind hated us. What in the hell? Yes, well, when you turn your back on your own father, you get that reputation. Hell's teeth, man. Everybody should turn their back on their father eventually. I mean, that's how you become your own man. But an entire species thinking that you're the bane of existence? How did you turn your back?

[00:14:09] Did you try to like release a genocide bomb or something? No, no. We have to know. There's interesting opinions here. Wait. Genocide bombs are there? Are they on the table? And he says, well, soon you'll have all the answers you want. When is soon and how many answers are there? As he looks up at Castle Dracula. Wait. That's a long walk, man. He's saying that that's his dad?

[00:14:40] Yes. He says, yes. My father and I have storied history. You've witnessed part of that. At least the beginning. But they were brothers. Of sorts, yes. He says... You look just like him, man. There's...

[00:15:08] There's two paths to Castle Dracula. Which one you take depends on you. The first one... We'll take it. You scale the mountain here. It'll lead you straight to the gates. Perfect. You can go right through the courtyard and enter into the castle. That's great. We're talking front door. Yes. Very direct. Respectable. The other...

[00:15:37] You can take the path to the right. Which leads around and underneath. Oh, not everybody likes it when you do that. That will lead you into the dungeons and categories. Yeah, it will. And then from there you can enter the castle. Catacombs are going to make it a whole lot harder for me to be an elephant. Oh, what? That sounds like an exit not an entrance. A turtle elephant? A turtle elephant? A turtle elephant? That's a thing?

[00:16:07] Yeah. It is now. And he says, both pass... It's a telephant. A telephant? Yeah. Both pass all for... Telephant? It's a telephoto. It's a telephoto. It's a telephoto. It's too hard to not see. This one's opening here. He says, the most important thing you must understand about this castle is that this castle is an extension of Dracula. Okay, that works. Oh. Did y'all catch that? Mm-hmm. So if we go through the back door, he's gonna know.

[00:16:37] Well, yeah. Yeah. He's gonna feel it. Um... It's an extension of him. But it'll surprise him. It'll surprise him. It'll shock him. And then he'll be a shock. He'll be so stunned, he'll... Will have the advantage. ...not know what to do. Wait. Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo! I feel the draft! If we go in through the tunnel, and then I take massive form... And then I take massive form... And you be like, Sean. That hack could ruin the foundation of the castle. Yes.

[00:17:07] It'll never be the same again. You could, like, get stuck and mark all your hit points. Yay! Yay! Oh, Jesus. I recommend jumping on the other side. I'm going to the little hole. On the other side. And I become... What could possibly go wrong? What could go wrong? So, like, he'll know if we go in the back. So it's not really... Will it surprise him at all? If it's a... No, yeah. Like, literally, out of character. If this place is an extension of himself... Wait, is it?

[00:17:37] That's what he just said. This castle... Then he'll know if we enter him in any way. So then it would be not safer... He doesn't hear him in any way. Yeah. Maybe he'll view the respect of coming in the front door and not sneaking up his backside as, like, better. He might see it more diplomatically. This is up for debate. Who cares how he sees it? Let's just pick a door. Pick a door and take it? Yeah. I don't care about how he views things.

[00:18:07] Why would I? I'm just a suit of armor. You don't even have eyes. I just got a new beard, so I'll be more comfortable. I personally think he views things with his eyes. It's made of iron. His special eyes. The Iron Beard is a second side story that we'll talk about some other things. I'm going to share this with you. Oh. Unlike the Iron Fist? It's called the Iron Beard. Because I see this becoming a form. It's how I grew an Iron Beard within a week. Am I being influenced? Within your... ...suit?

[00:18:36] No, it's not in the suit. That'd be weird. It's on the outside. From the suit? It's coming from the suit? It's coming from the... It's Iron. It's an extension of the suit. But somehow it's... I'm shocked. I'm being influenced. Oh no. Take up. After the leave, I've been given a faint... It looks like hair, but it's made of iron. And offered the choice. It's made thin. It's got iron hair and violence. That's why it's so soft. Messing with me.

[00:19:06] But it doesn't burn like a lion or anything. Because it will burn it. You ever burn like... Is that the turfant? ...steel wool? It is a turfant. Oh yeah. That's what it will do to my beard. Oh no. Yeah. Turtles all the way down. Until you get to the turfant. It's a thorned turfant. I like it. Or is it... Is it an alertle? A alertle, yeah. An alertle or a turfant?

[00:19:34] I think the alertle would actually have the trunk. Yeah, that makes sense. Turtles don't. Yeah. It's got more of the snapping jaws. Wait, wait, wait, wait. This is all logical. I'm following. I'm tracking. Get impaled on the tusk and then the jaw snap on you. That's... Is it a snapping turtifant? Wait, why are we talking about this? It is. It's a snapping turtifant. He's trying to influence me. To turn into...

[00:20:02] He has offered me a fate which has no mechanical capability of influencing anything. To choose... To look... To become a snapping elephant. Like an elephant with a turtle head? And chug. It's in the chat. And... Oh, is it insane? Oh. You can share it if you like. I'll share. You can do this image and stuff. And save it. But, anyhow.

[00:20:33] I heard. So... That's a beastie. You... Beastie. Yes. I don't know what everybody... Because this is a democracy. I'm saying that we just enter through the front door. If he knows we're coming no matter what. He's already expecting us. If it's an extension of himself. He's expecting us. He can sense his whole house as if it's a part of himself. We have to be a part of himself.

[00:21:00] We have his son as a guide. But nobody likes his son. Including him. I have a... So, how do we know that he'll sense it? Is it just God told us? No. His son told us. Okay. So, I'm asking this of his son. So, if we enter him, he'll know. But does he know specifically from where we entered? Or does he just know we entered?

[00:21:26] Would there be a benefit to entering the back way if he can sense the house as if it's a question? Answer my question. Just... Like, can he tell? Like... You don't know the exact details of how it works. Like, you don't know the exact details of how it works. Like, much like the domain itself, like this Wachovia is a part of Dracula. You know, he influences it. Yeah, yeah.

[00:21:54] The castle even more so because that is him. Yeah, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna put a strong vote out there. If he already knows we're coming, he already knows how we're coming in because he can sense it. Well, we don't know that he can sense how we're coming in. But given the statement that the guy already made, the house is an extension of himself. I like the idea of not being in a tunnel. I don't want to be in a tunnel with this guy if he expands. That's Richard Fireball.

[00:22:21] Oh yeah, Fireball would suck if we're all in a... What if we go with the third option? Which I don't know what that is, but like... He turns into something with wings and drops us in from above. Yeah, or something. I can do that for three of us. Like three other than me. Right. So that's four of us. If some of you can fly... Who here can fly? I don't hear that. No. I don't think any of us can fly.

[00:22:50] I can do conjured steeds if they stay on the ground. Can I shapeshift into somebody who can fly? Can I fly? Oh, she has seen vampires. And I've seen... No, you just look like them. You don't actually shapeshift into it. You just look like them. Oh, it's just an illusion. It's like glamour. It's not a physical transformation. But also keep in mind that high above the castle as well, there is a storm.

[00:23:18] You see, because you see the lightning and the storm clouds and such. It's a perpetual storm, by the way, which constantly surrounds the castle. But... And to this... God is the god of time and storm. It's a temporal storm. Yeah. It's not a storm storm. Oh. It's a time storm. So it's different. It is different. Okay. There's less lightning and rain, more dissolution of all experience. Yeah, time storm. What would that look like? That's fun.

[00:23:47] It would look like a complete unraveling of the continuum. No, it's just a storm. It passes. Storms pass. Sometimes they do. Most times. I am willing to try to fly. It's all on how you look at it in time. One storm could be connected to all storms. You're just experiencing it at moments. I'm talking about storm from X-Men. I don't know what you're talking about. Oh, she passes? Time storm. Time storm. Um...

[00:24:15] So I could become a... We could do this. A large griffin or a dragon. And fly y'all... Fly some of y'all up there. I can't get all of us. How about we go in through the most methodical way? Uh... Just walking up the front. No. Methodical. Like, like, let's, let's create a plan here. Uh...

[00:24:42] We send a party to be greeted. And we drop somebody in from above. Precaution. So I can conjure steeds. I can conjure up to two. Bro, all I'm saying is you can fly. We can drop you in from above so that way you're in. Yep.

[00:25:11] And we can go to the front door and be like, yo, we here! We'll be the distraction. We're the magic fingers. The jazz hands. And then I'm just up here dodging lightning bolts until y'all tell me to come in. No, no, no. Just go in and go in. Like, just do like a... Get in there. Okay. Like, you're entering, but he may not notice like we think because we're going magic fingers. Well, if we do that... Distraction? Nobody beats the shuffle.

[00:25:38] If we do that, I can go with a smaller beast form. Exactly. Which may take less stress. Oh, can you change your size? You can go in like a little mosquito. Yeah. Like an ox fly. What happens to you? You could be an ox fly if you do that. Have you ever seen one of those? Mike? I've heard of ox fly. What about a virus? You can go in this virus and then infect Dracula.

[00:26:08] I can't become that? I'm remembering that... I think I'm channeling that Merlin like a Disney movie. Ooh! I could be a deer. That's not flying. A bacteria. If they jump hard enough. We've already had an antlered person on this team. He didn't jump hard enough. It didn't work. I think we need to start a little timer. So I think the majority of us... Yeah. Is anybody against a group separation? Should we send you with a battle buddy?

[00:26:39] I'm not against it. You have two minutes to decide. If I go small... Otherwise I'm just going to open the front door. ...as like a raven. Yeah. Then I get bird's eye view. I can fly at will once per rest while I'm airborne. It increases my finesse and my evasion. Do that one. Because if there's a storm, your ability to evade will be better. Yeah. So do that. Get in through the top corridors of the castle.

[00:27:07] We'll go to the front door. Distract him with jazz hands. It also lets me, once per session... Or once per rest, ask the GM a question about the scene below me without needing to roll. Oh, below. Like that's specific? And the first time a character makes a roll to act on that information, they gain advantage on that roll. Alright, yeah. No, I think this is the best plan. So I can go raven form. Is anybody opposed to this plan?

[00:27:38] Nope. We've got one minute left. What about you or armor? I'm armor. I don't have an opinion. You don't have an opinion. What about you, train your own? I'm okay. You guys are okay with it. Alright, turn into a bird. You're the bird and the word. I go raven form. I cannot carry people in this form. Okay. So you just perch on somebody's shoulder. No. I am planning to fly up and basically be the eye in the sky, dodging lightning bolts and watching around them. You guys have to basically clip from them. Oh wait, wait, here take this.

[00:28:09] Sorry you do. We're planning on everybody else going up. You can hold this in your claw. Here you go. I got you. This is a thing that I have acquired. This is called... So when they enter the courtyard, you're going to fly above. It's all mine. I just want to go up. Got you. Okay. It is called a speaking orb. Check, check, check. Can you hear me? Oh yes. Oh he's giving you mind cons. Mind cons. Yeah.

[00:28:38] Well I can actually physically tell them. That way you can just tell us stuff. Yeah. Well this way while you're gone... I can physically talk into a speaking. Yeah. Hi in the sky. It's looking really bright up here. We call you Sky Dad. Wait. Hey you go. Magic orb. Hey hey. You only have one of them at a time. Oh. Per set.

[00:29:07] And so you had to want all through Lena. Nice. So. That means that we can't communicate with them while they're on their secret mission. That's all. Cause we air. They're going with you for a moment. Yeah. Dun dun dun. Okay. So I'll make sure to give it back whenever. The rest of us will follow my bum knee up this gosh dang too long of an entry path to a doorway.

[00:29:40] Who the hell gets a driveway this long? Oh. Oh. It's been a minute. We should be going down. Alright. So. The gates of sovereignty. You stand at the edge of the world. The drawbridge behind you groans under the weight of centuries. Ugh. It's chains slick with rain and rust. The towers flanking the entrance rise like sentinels. Their iron bound doors sealed against the storm.

[00:30:07] With each tower and mechanisms hung with dormant magic waiting for a word that only Dracula knows. Sesame. I love it. The wind rushes through the tunnel ahead carrying with it a low mournful howl. And then move forward. Yay. So you're standing there at the gates right now.

[00:30:38] Is there a big knocker on it? I feel like there should be. At this moment you can however you want to proceed. I go airborne so that I can be an eye in the sky. Literally. Even though I also have that mechanic. You can have two eyes. Are you a cyclotian or anything? I was going to say do you only have one eye? A siren.

[00:31:08] I only have one eye. I got a slit right there. You have a yuna eye? Yeah. I don't even know how I see you really. It's magic. It's all magic. I don't know how to do anything. Like I don't have connective tissue or anything. I'm having like an existential crisis. I think you are. How do you even exist right now? How am I? I'm starting to freak out. Who are you? Who are you? How are you? What are you? Yeah.

[00:31:38] Why am I? I have fudge. I am burnt. You guys are on the outside right there. That's the gate. Oh and then I'll just put you right there for now because I didn't know where you wanted to. This is a courtyard so it's... Yep. That's the castle in the middle. Uh... Do... And cliff all around. Do I see any ghosts?

[00:32:08] No. No people. No people. Is that your one question you're asking? Do we have any living statues that come to life and kill us? I think I should clarify. Oh man, that makes sense. That's a good thing to ask. Alright. We're back. Is there a knocker? Is there a buzzer? Is there a small caterpillar of any kind with a Cockney accent? No.

[00:32:38] It's... Did you say hello? It's really just a gate right there in front of you. Uh, then knock. Knocker. Take out the butt of my gun and like tap it against the metal. Alright. Does the door open? I'd say what are you doing in the meantime? Are you just flying around? I'll land like right here. This is like the... The wall or whatever. The wall.

[00:33:08] That's the wall, yes. This is up above. This is the wall, the gate's right there, and this is the inner courtyard, and that's the entrance into the castle. Yeah. So I'll land right there and watch to see if somebody is going to come. Yeah. If I don't see anybody coming within a few minutes, I'll come down and open the door. You see nothing. You see nothing. Nothing at all. Not a living soul.

[00:33:38] We're dead. I'm going to go down and drop my bird form. Oh, that was quick. Yeah. Operate the mechanism? I'm going to try to operate the mechanism. Wait! When he said Dracula is the house, he's the house! Dracula's a mimic?

[00:34:15] As I'm touching the door. Yes. And you're... Yes. Okay. I'm trying to operate the mechanism to open the door at this current moment as I tell you that he went over the gate and apparently he's opened any gate for his name. Oh, from the other side. From the other side, right, yes. Because we knocked and apparently... No answer. No answer. There's no answer. Nobody's home. But I thought never invested in getting money to open it.

[00:34:46] Do I need to operate? Operating it? No. Or is it just like a lever that I pull? It's a lever that you're just basically just... Yes, but here they call it lever. Yeah. And as you do... I can't deliver. What is your strength anyways? Just curious. Four. Oh yeah, you know what I mean. Yeah. You just... You got enough strength to, you know... How is the bird doing this? Work it. He's not. He already shifted. Oh. Oh, he shifted. Yeah.

[00:35:13] So, as you do that, the gate, the massive gate makes as loud noise as it moves. And... Sounds like a horse. Exactly. Because it doesn't... You can tell that this gate has not been operated in a very, very long time. I have a feeling Dracula enters and exits the same way I just did. He doesn't get many visitors. I wonder if it's more new on the backside. Maybe. Alright, so...

[00:35:42] And then of course that gate opens and you do it just enough for everybody to get under because it's a pretty heavy game. So everybody goes into the courtyard... And then it crashes back down. With Mike? Yeah. Yeah, it will actually crash back. I hold it until they come in. Yeah, obviously, yes. Except for Greg. And then I would... Greg is there. He's like, let go! Alright! Get rid of me. Oop, my hand slipped. My claw slipped.

[00:36:10] And I quickly give... Welcome! Back to Lena. Is Dracula welcome? Welcome to me? That's... Can you get back to Lena? Yeah. As you enter into the courtyard... I bid you... Welcome! You feel a dark presence wash over you.

[00:36:38] You feel fear building. Not your own. Oh good. But more like a collective fear from the entirety of the realm. Yeah. As it just weighing upon you. No wonder he's pissed off and standing by himself if he feels his own. Yeah. I've started a countdown that's at 12th for Castle Dracula. Hmm.

[00:37:07] This is called the Domain of Dread. While this countdown is active, your hope die is a d10. Oh. And any hope features require an additional hope to use. Oh. Oh, fuck. So if it costs one, it now costs two. Yay! Until the countdown's gone. Now the countdown ticks down for every time you roll with hope. Ooh. Oh. Collectively. Nice. So... If anybody in your point will roll with hope. Hope. Until I... We should all start seeing you.

[00:37:37] Oh right, it's a drip. Because what it's doing is it's feeding. You have to satiate it. Excellent. It's feeding off of you. All we have to do is roll with hope. I have two. Are we rolling with hope right now? No. Oh. But when you do roll, you roll with a d10 and d12 until that countdown goes away. Wait a d10 and a d12. It's a d10.

[00:38:06] Yeah, your hope dies with a d10. Correct. Okay, I get that. Digital Dice Daddy. I'm gonna go ahead and walk away. That would be a good name for a dice app. Dice Daddy? Dice Daddy. Yeah. DiceDaddy.com. I'm making it. Tomorrow. And I'm gonna release it and you guys have to use it. Thanks Daddy. Alright. So, welcome to the courtyard.

[00:38:39] And here... Alright, so our... Our hope is a d10, right? Correct. Rain begins to fall. Not a drizzle, but a torrent. Lightning lands to the sky, illuminating the castle's towering silhouette and stark flashes. Thunder follows, deep, resonant, shaking the very stone beneath your feet.

[00:39:07] The courtyard is choked with cold fog, swirling around your boots like grasping hands. Torch light flickers on either side of the keeps open main doors. The key word is open. Okay. Warm light spills out, inviting, unnatural. Above the entrance, a round window stares down at you. Its glass shattered, its iron frame jagged like a broken crown.

[00:39:32] The walls enclosing the courtyard rise, hundreds of feet in the air. The towers above them climb even higher, vanishing into the storm. The doors to the gate towers remain shut. The wind howls through the courtyard, hearing whispers that do not belong to the living. This is not a welcome, it is a warning. How do you proceed?

[00:40:00] I mean, with caution. I agree with what she said. So there's two doors? What's behind the door? Straight ahead is the doors into the main area. They're open and light is pouring out from within.

[00:40:29] Like a double door or like two different doors? Okay. Then let's just go in with caution. Like what order? Who's going? The one who said let's go in with caution is first. You go in. I'll be, I'm right behind you. Bro, you're a shield. You're a living shield. You are. You literally were there as living. I don't want to be a dead shield. You have all this dialogue. You have all this dialogue. I'm a man now. I make my own decisions.

[00:40:59] He's got a fair point. He tends to get killed. I have a shield. I hand him my shield. There you go. So, what is the biggest, hardest thing you can become and still fit through that hole? Still fit through the hole. There's no innuendo at all.

[00:41:29] How big is the hole? Door sized. Double door. Double door. Double door. Double door. Double door. Double door. Double door. Sounds like a wizard in Harry Potter. I mean Potter. Harry potty. Maybe in like a triple X version of Harry Potter called Harry Potty. Speaking of triple X. There's a wizard called Double Door. We call Harry something. Yeah.

[00:42:01] I don't think it's potty though. I don't know. I'm just thinking like potty mouse, potty porn. I don't know. Right, but if it was porn it would be called Harry something else. Okay, what's Martin's work? I don't know. It's like Harry being a different word. Not it. I think we mentioned porn too much in this episode. You want. You're in the back? Yep. I'm not it. I don't know. I don't know. I'm going to be first. So she's in front of Travion?

[00:42:31] I'll go in front. Give me my shield back. I'll go in front. I'll take the hit. What is that, Mike? I could do a Rhinoceros. I'm nothing but a shield to these people anyway. That should fit through a... That can fit, right? That can fit. Alright. Well I'll tell you what, let me... So him, then the armor, then me. Oh my gosh. Then Sybil, then Travion, then like... Mike? Alright, save a token for that. And yes, a token fix.

[00:43:01] By the way, before I go Rhinoceros, I'm going to activate my Wild Surge. Yeah? Wild Surge, once per long rest, mark a stress to channel the natural world around you and enhance yourself, describe how your appearance changes, then place a d6 on this card with the one value facing up. Okay.

[00:43:28] While the Wild Surge die is active, you add its value to every action roll you make. After you add its value to a roll, increase the Surge die value by one. When the die's value would exceed six, or you take a rest, the sperm drops and you must mark an additional stress. Alright. Are... So are you leading now since you're a Rhino? Leading? Yeah, he's in front. He's going to take charge. Okay. So...

[00:43:58] Rhino, Greg, Traveler, Sybil, Travion. Then Light Band. Then Light Band. Oh yeah, I've got to throw Light Band on it. Then do it. The Undead Panther Nut must be here. Let's roll a beast first. I do actually mark the stress. Okay. And then that is my Wild Surge. Uh, then I take my beast form as a beast.

[00:44:28] See? I told you. There he is right there. It does fit. Hey! Uh, that gives me plus three strength and plus one eviction.

[00:44:46] So, as you enter into the main hall, four statues of gargoyles glare down from perches overhead, their eyes flickering in the torchlight. Their stone wings twitch, their claws flex, but they do not descend. Hmm. They watch. Is that you? No, that's drugs. They allow you to enter. Okay. Hello, hello.

[00:45:16] I say out loud as a rhino. It actually says that I can. Does it say that you're talking... Kind of sound intelligent, but gruff and like a scientist? Does it... Kind of like rhino. Does it say that you are... You can... Like, every... You can talk. All right. All animals can talk. Yeah, all talk... Yeah, all animals can talk, but can we understand... It says I can communicate as normal. Oh. All right.

[00:45:46] So, while you're here, when you step into the main hall, by the way, you hear the echoes of a haunting organ being played. Oh, I like that. What organ? The heart. Oh. The kidney? The bladder? By the way, the... The gallbladder. Oh, what gall? Is that slime? Look to me. All right, gotcha. It's like a slime... Slimmer effect? Slimmer effect? I like... Slimmer, I like that. Yeah, yeah. The slimmer. The... The slimmer, yeah.

[00:46:16] It's like a shimmer, but slimy. So what organ is it? He's covered... He's a rhino covered in slime. I like it. He's a slimy rhino. Like, as he's walking, he's dripping in a slimmer. You can almost hear someone inside of him saying, it's hot in this rhino. He opens his mouth and just like... That's natural. Right now, it's just a shame. Whenever it gets up to like six, it's like the...

[00:46:45] Is that when you lose consistency and it becomes goopy? Oh. Also, before I... Meat! Before you forget again. I took that form. I want to spend my two hope... Spend those up, can I? To sprout seven thorns all over my body. What? What? Oh. Oh.

[00:47:16] Basically, the rhino has slimy thorns now. Why? Because I have thorns in my body. I have a slimy thorn skin. The protruding sharp edges that have some sort of poisonous slime on them. Thank you. When I take damage, I can spend any number of tokens to roll that number of d6s and add the results together to reduce the incoming damage by that amount. Nice. If I'm within melee range of the attacker, I deal that amount of damage back to them.

[00:47:45] I like the thorny rhino. Yeah. All right. So, why have we not had you the whole time? I'm the sign thorn up. What do you do now? Hella rhino. Hella rhino. The music, by the way, is coming from the... Yes. Then I want to walk over there and see if it's a player piano.

[00:48:13] Ooh, there's a whole fucking banquet set up for us. I feel like we have to go to the right top to know that though. It's my head wall. Darth Vader would be very disappointed if we didn't walk in on the back. Oh, son of a bitch. I remember that scene. That sucks. All right. But I get to be Billy Dee in this. You're Harrison Ford. I'm pretty sure I'm Chewy. I'm Boba Fett.

[00:48:43] That sucks, man. You're easily killed. Boba Fett. Not in this movie. Oh, okay. Yeah. Was he in that movie? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. He succeeded in that movie in taking the carbonite. He was basically like FedEx. I was the hero. Boba Fett was like FedEx. He took Harrison Ford in the carbonite to go see Jabba and then instantly got swallowed. But right now we're totally allowed to just walk through. Oh, I survived that though. Nothing is stopping us. Nothing is stopping you. We hear airy music coming from here. Just the original trilogy.

[00:49:13] It's old. It's too late for you. It's too late for you. It's too late. Because that's the piano? Yes. Too late for me. So we hear airy music coming from that direction. Yes. It lost the magic. You can't watch it and get the best out. Obviously we should go check. We were three years old when we were watching it. That was a little early. I wasn't even thought of. We didn't know. Yeah, I think we should go check on who's playing the piano. I'm following the... Yeah. I'm right behind the rhino's ass. Well, actually I'm behind Greg.

[00:49:43] Who's right in the rhino's ass? I'll ride up in that ass. I can carry you. I'll ride the rhino? Ride in the rhino. I will ride the rhino. I can carry up to four. I will not sit on any of his three protrusions. We can all ride on in that. You can all ride on me. He said he could carry up to four. There's four of us. We can all ride to rhino. Alright. Magic users, jump on. We don't like to use our legs. We're magic users. That's the whole point. It does say that you have to be willing allies. I am willing to be your ally, but do not...

[00:50:13] Do not poke me. Yeah, I guess I am. Oh, but he has those thorns. That's something to hold onto. That's something that you hold onto. It's like a... But I thought you said... It's like the rhinoceros thing. I thought you said they were poisonous. No. They're just slippery. They're just not slippery. Oh. Hold on tighter. Torchlight flutters against the walls of this vaulted hall. To the east, an arched hallway ends at a spiral staircase. A suit of armor stands at attention in a shallow alcove. Go to the... Oiled and glistening.

[00:50:43] It's visor down. It's posture perfect. Oh. It's oiled down. To the west, large double doors hang slightly open. Bright light spills to the gap. Organ music swells. Grand, mournful, triumphant. It is not just music. It is a declaration. Of independence. I would like to nose the door open since it's already cracked. And we will continue to ride it.

[00:51:07] Now, you're going to be too large because that's... So you're going to get stuck. Large creatures can squeeze through medium, I think, in B&D. Yeah. It's going to be a tight squeeze. I would have to go through the table. So we got a dismount. We just got on. Uh, we don't have to. I could hop on the table.

[00:51:40] But then it might ruin you. Is there food on the table? So... What does this look like? Um... Like, is it set up for us to eat? As you enter the dining hall, three crystal chandeliers blaze overhead, illuminating the chamber of impossible elegance. Pillars of stone rise against dull white marble walls. A long table stretches across the room, draped in white satin, laden with roasted beast roots

[00:52:08] and herbs, fruits and vegetables. Each place is set for you. Fine china, silver cutlery, crystal goblets filled with amber liquid that smells of honey and memory. At the far end, between floor to ceiling mirrors, stands a massive organ. Its pipes blare a thunderous melody. Greatness and despair in every note. Seated at the organ facing away, a caped figure plays with raptured ecstasy. Do we have place cards?

[00:52:38] Yeah, thank you! That's exactly what I was saying. Does it actually say, traveler, sit here? Yeah, is there... You said it's set for us. Do we have place cards? There's no place cards now. So it's not necessarily set for us. But smell the glass, because if it smells like memory, then it has to be your memory. Otherwise, I'm drinking your memories and you're drinking mine. And I don't want people to know what I've done. So, what do you do? We hope you've enjoyed this week's episode.

[00:53:07] If you did, head over to our website, SaturdayNightGamingLLC.com, for some more fun content. Also, make sure to like, share and subscribe on all of our social media platforms. I hope you have a fantastic week. And until next time, this is Laura Hibbard with Saturday Night Gaming, signing off.