Session Zero Heroes - A TTRPG Actual Play Podcast
Welcome back to the big finale episode of Benders and Brews. Welcome back, everybody. It's our big finale. Season one. Season One finale episode of Benders and Brews episode Twelve uh, crazy stuff is going to happen. Crazy stuff has happened that's led up until this point, and we are super excited to be back. Uh, sitting down for this big finale. Uh, just a quick emphasis. Uh, the next four episodes that will be coming out will all be prequel episodes. I really want to, uh, rail that into everybody's head because I don't want anybody to listen and be like, what's going on? I don't understand this. Doesn't follow the story at all.
No.
We're doing, like, throwbacks for each character. So I'm going to be doing like a sit down session with each one of the characters here, or players. And they're going to do kind of a backstory episode. It's a mix between a scripted and played through episode of, uh, how their character got to where they are, to the blissful brew, to meeting Mr. Okaran where did they come from, things along those lines. Okay, so it's going to be really fun. We got voice actors, uh, independent voice actors from, um, Casting Call Club and some other sources as well, online. So it's just going to be a lot of fun. It's going to be really exciting. It's going to be very emotional, uh, from what I've written and done so far. Uh, so it's a lot something to look forward to. So just again, it's prequel episodes. And then we will jump back into the current story once all of those are done. Uh, other than that, let's jump right into our question. So the question for today, and we're taking a book or a page from the Dungeons and Daddies, if you've ever listened to their podcast, phenomenal Dungeons and Dragons real Play podcast, I highly recommend it. Uh, we're taking a page out of their book today, uh, as recommended by one of our amazing community members over on the Discord Channel, which you can totally join. Uh, just tell me something about your character that you feel isn't something that necessarily would come up in the story or the show or whatever else, um, kind of naturally. So just like something interesting about them that we might not otherwise learn. So who wants to start? Connor, do you feel confident? You kind of look a little maybe not maybe not as confident.
Hold on. I don't know.
I mean, I can certainly try to set the tone with, I guess.
Okay, go for it.
All right.
Little known fact about Broccoli, he only showers once a week.
Oh, we know.
That is something that definitely might come up. But as of now, it's going to come up. Now that you've mentioned it, that's for sure.
We all just thought it was the dishwater, right?
I mean, the dishwater washes him like, 90% of the way anyway.
He does one, uh, water based shower.
The rest is dirt baths. When Mika turns around while he's washing, he'll get his pits. He'll go a little bit lower on his body. And they're trying to get and then she's back. So he's back to it. Now, out of curiosity, would Mika notice that there's always one day in the week that brock smells pretty good today.
I don't know if she necessarily notices it's Brock, but the room definitely smells.
Like something different today's. M a good day once a week. Mika's having a really good day.
There's less flies in here today.
Yeah, exactly. Okay.
Uh, maybe he washes on Sundays or something. By Saturday, it's like, oh, it's, uh, end of the week really bad.
Yeah.
I'm just ready for the week to be over or whatever.
It'd be funny if you guys had, like, the weekends off. So you never actually experienced Brock having a shower because you're out doing your stuff. He's out doing his stuff. That's funny. Or hold on. Is it a technicality thing here? Because you said Brock showers once a week. Does he bathe the other six days of the week?
No. Whatever dishwater gets on him, that's just what he uses.
All right.
Throughout, uh, the week.
Like I said, this is the beauty of these, like, little facts, is that, uh, now this will probably come up later. And I'm excited for that.
I'm ready for that to come up.
Let's hope we never travel. Probably be less than once a week.
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, that's true.
Then you'll just be like, oh, Brock just smells like Brock.
That, Brock.
Smell natural.
Must.
All right. Uh, Dave with GuoHan. Tell us something interesting about GuoHan.
Um, GuoHan, he'll be, uh, walking down the street, and he'll see an interesting looking rock, and he'll collect it. Has a little rock.
Right.
All right.
They're his friends.
Yeah. And he does talk to them sometimes.
All right.
Well, perfect. I feel like that's kind of been referenced, too. Hasn't he pulled out, like, a little pouch at some point or maybe that's in the prequel, actually.
Um, yeah, he's got multiple pouches, though.
Okay.
With different things. Not just rocks and pellets.
Look at this stuff.
Okay, cool.
Oh, can't say that.
Yeah, that's just, you know, just telling them to look at this.
I think she's allowed to go that.
Saying, look at this stuff. Look at this stuff.
Cameron with, uh, Bill. Dore tell me something interesting about Bill door.
So I figured this probably would never come up because, uh, I don't know why it would come up, but in your questionnaire, when we were making our.
Characters and stuff, you gave us a bunch of questions.
And one question was, uh, was your character doing their quiet time?
Oh, yeah.
And I, for some reason, wrote, like, a full page on just that Bill really likes to yeah, yeah. Loves painting and is super into it. But he does not paint around other people because he's super self conscious. So he sneaks off into the woods, finds some water, finds some nice, peaceful stuff, and just paints.
We did talk about what's their favorite pastime and you did mention that they mentioned heart plane.
Okay.
Painting.
I don't know.
That's just but no, that's ever come up.
Plays a heart. And he paints.
Yeah, but he doesn't do it on anyone because he's super self conscious about it.
Sure.
Where does he store his painting?
Probably at this secret spot he paints.
At, uh, tree trunk.
Wow.
He's just like somewhere out there in the woods. Someone's going to he's like a Bob Ross. This collection of paintings that Bill's been finding.
I'm going to live this life of I'm the painter.
Painting on the back of tree bark.
Bill's going to table.
Bill's taking a turn. He's actually just a wild animal running around painting on walls and stuff.
Bill's going to be walking down, like, the market district, and he's going to pass by this art stall and he's going to see very familiar paintings. And he's going to say, wait a minute.
To be fair, he doesn't landscape, too.
Yeah.
So like, if someone painted a landscape that he also looked at, I mean, he could be like, oh, dang, they found my.
Painting, but that's my spot. Fair enough. All right. Finally, Michaela with Mika. Tell us something, uh, interesting about Mika.
Mika, um, likes to dabble in embroidery.
Really?
Yeah.
Interesting.
You know, instead know, writing stars in the cuffs of her jeans. She does that on the inside of her skirt.
Okay.
So people can't be like, oh, look at her. She's doing a woman thing.
Sure.
She doesn't like, she has to keep that hard exterior.
Oh, okay.
Uh, she says secret embroiderer.
Yeah.
She bedazzle at all?
No, not yet.
No, it hasn't come out yet. Our technology hasn't hit that point in that 90s peak.
That'll be something.
Peak of fashion design is bedazzling. We're going to do a, uh, Legend of Cora timeline campaign. And that's going to be all. The rage is bedazzled.
Awesome.
Well, that's everything for the guys. Everybody's questions. So we are going to jump into our big finale episode on Benders and Brews. It's just r1 big snap all at once.
You could say we practiced.
I would say so.
I mean, sure.
Mr. Okeron out front.
You spent I would say he's standing wherever Bill's standing.
I was going to say Bill's standing.
Right next to him.
And he's got a staff out.
So up front.
Yeah.
Uh, Mr. Okran leans over to Bill and he says, uh, so did we decide if we're going to pay them and just tell them, this is your last one, or are we just saying.
No, Mr. Okra, if we were going to pay them, we wouldn't have gotten this small.
Well, no, I figured they were, like, into it. Like, hey, this is your last payment. Get out of here.
No, they don't deserve payment. They're bullies.
Oh, right. Well, yeah, no, I mean, I agree.
But I just did you bring the money out here?
Um, yes. You better go take that back inside.
We don't want to lose that in the battle.
Okay.
You might need that. No, if something gets burned or something because we are going to fight here in the street.
Oh, okay. I was up for damage without violence.
Okay, well, I think they might back down. Look at this. Do you see that snap? I was intimidating.
That was a really intense snap.
Like, damn, look, we got and Mika, like, tricking them.
Oh, yeah, we have the upper hand.
We're fine.
No?
Okay, I'll run this back inside.
Okay.
Then they see him running.
Hey, where do you think you're going, old man?
And then if he steps forward towards them, bill's going to step between them.
Okay.
Put the money back. This guy, this guy, he looks you in the eye and he's like, who are you supposed to be, his little bodyguard?
I'm, um, the door to the shop.
Bill door?
Yeah.
Well, I'll kick you in if I got to.
Uh, I want to see you try. And Bill just takes a stance and points his staff directly at okay.
Okay.
Are you going to initiate combat until he does?
Okay. All right.
So Bill, dor you're about to engage in combat with the leader, guy of the Wild Coyote boars, his rockabilly haircut waving in the wind or what have you, whatever you call it. Anyways, uh, he's going to take a stance right off the bat. He throws his foot back, uh, his right foot back behind him, stomps it into the ground. And that's the moment when you realize that he's obviously an earthbender, because as he does this, a chunk of earth kind of comes out of the ground to sort of support his foot. Um, so he's got kind of an angle and he withdraws his wooden, um, practice katana, whatever you want to call it. Um, and he's got it out the ready. So he looks like he is about to, like I said, engage in combat with you. Um, and he is kind of not waiting for your move, but with the way that the combat works in here, you're both going to choose a move at the same time. Uh, so you look through your moves and figure out what it is that you want to start with. In the meantime, I just want to get a quick check. What is everybody doing? Uh, we'll start with Mika. Mika, you are kind of like standing over with the Wild Coyote Boars. Now, a bunch of the people in the crowd of shop owners and such that have joined you guys are looking a little bit confused. Like, this person helped round us all up and then walk right over and join the gang. Mr. Okeron actually just went inside the shop, so he doesn't even really have I think he saw you guys walk over there. But given that you guys are basically like his kids, he has full faith and trust in you. And he also knows that you guys had discussed a lot of the planning for all of this. Kind of without him which is fine. That's kind of like what he had pitched. It's like, you guys figure it out.
Exactly.
And that's probably what he assumes. He always assumes, like, the most positive thing. So he's like, oh, well, she's going to go over there and talk them down so that they don't do this. No violence necessary. So he didn't really assume anything negative or anything of you walking you and Brock walking over there. But, um, the other shop owners and such are definitely confused. Like, why is she standing with them? Whatever. Uh, also, again, just to emphasize, mr. O'gron is not in the crowd at the moment. He went back inside because Bill told him to go put the money away because you're not going to need it. So, Brock and Mika, what are you guys doing in the group of this with technically three wild coyote boars that are standing there kind of just off to the side while their leader engages in combat with your friend.
I'm just here to take a laid back approach and get him.
Okay. That's it. Okay. All right.
She's cheering.
I didn't say boo.
I was cheering. No, I know, I know.
That's why I stopped when I said cheering. I was like, well, she's cheering.
- So there's only three of right?
Right. So you would have the girl that you would talk to yesterday, chicra Chicra. Yep, exactly. Um, you have the big guy who's even larger than you, but he's a little bit more like burly, as opposed to just like, straight muscle. And then you've got another guy that's got he's kind of just a short, scrawny looking dude. He's kind of hunched over in a weird way to the point where you almost wonder if he's got some sort of a spinal issue in some way, shape, or form.
Okay.
So I'll, um, just be sort of standing off to the side with them and watching Bill dore taking on this guy. And I'll just be ready to intervene in case things get hairy for.
Sounds good.
Yeah. Awesome.
Um, all right, perfect. So then we'll cut right over. Oh, I mean, Guo, what are you up to with, uh, the group? You guys just did this intimidating snap before Bill ended up kind of taking the charge on fighting this guy.
Um, well, Guo's just going to be like, hold on, hold on. Like holding the villagers back.
Sure.
Um, Bill's doing his thing over here. He's not going to get in his way.
Right.
Gohan's. The man of the show snapping and stuff. This is Bill's Solo.
Sure. All right. Let him do his thing.
Got to sing this number quick, and then we all come in with the ensemble right now.
All right, sounds good. He's the conductor.
Yeah.
Cool. All right. Very cool. All right, Bill, you're up. What are you doing?
I'm defending.
Okay.
You're going to do a defendant maneuver. All right.
Yeah.
Go ahead and roll those dice for that.
Uh, Bill sees the guy's. Is he, like, charging?
Bill?
He's currently not. Oh, um, yeah, he's taking an intense stance, as if he's going to do something.
Well. Okay.
Bill's going to defend a maneuver, and he's just going to parry. Well, he's got to roll first, right?
Yes.
I'm going to try and parry. I'll see nine.
Okay, so you are going to be able to use a master technique or a basic technique, and you're going to do Perry, right?
That's not mastered.
Oh, okay.
Or basic.
It's a learn technique.
Okay.
So I'm going to retaliate.
Okay.
Anything he does, I do equally back to him.
Okay, sounds good. Um, so he is going to strike. So, uh, he's doing advanced attack. So you are retaliating. So you've readied yourself for whatever he's doing. You have your Bow staff out, I assume.
Yes.
Okay, sounds good. So you take a defensive stance. He, um, shoots forward. So what he does is he kind of, like, presses off with his back foot, um, off of that small, little chunk of rock that he's raised out. And as he does, it kind of follows with him to kind of, like, push him forward. So he kind of, like, bursts forward, swinging his practice katana. You have your staff at the ready kind of block it. So he is going to strike. It says strike a foe in reach, forcing them to mark two fatigue, mark a condition or shift their balance away from center. It's your choice. And then you're going to deal it back to him. He's not going to do the one fatigue in order to hammer you with his blows, because this is like a singular strike. Um, so you get to choose which of those options that, uh, you want to take.
Basically, I get to choose?
Yes. What are the three options?
Uh, you can mark two fatigue, mark a condition, or shift your balance away from center.
I'll move my balance.
Okay.
And then which way are you moving the balance?
Self reliance.
Okay, sounds good. So you've taken charge of this battle, and so you feel what's? Uh, the opposite end at a care trust. Okay, sounds good. So you're thinking less about I need this group behind me to help me with this confrontation with this group. I can handle this myself. I'm going to fight this guy, and I'm going to mess, uh, him up, I guess, or handle this situation myself. Uh, because of that. You said you did retaliate, right?
Yeah.
Okay, so you're going to deal one fatigue to him.
Well, how much fatigue did he do to me?
None. Because you chose to take condition. Oh, yeah.
Uh, so he takes one fatigue.
So you two are both now locked inside of kind of like a hold against each other. So you're blocking with your Bow staff. He's slamming down into the Bow staff with his katana. Uh, we'll move into the second round here of the combat. What would you like to do? And I'm going to quickly figure out what I'm going to do. If anybody, uh, in the other groups, while we're thinking has anything that they want to throw in, just let me know.
Um, Glow wants to kind of analyze this guy's movement and see if there's any glowing red spots.
Sure.
Uh, do you want to assess situation? Yeah, I was just exactly. You can assess the situation. Um, you could ready if you want to do, like, a defendant maneuver.
I want to assess the situation.
Okay.
Sounds good. So technically speaking, anyone can kind of jump in or out of combat, uh, during these exchanges. Obviously, if you do something really forward, like actually attack him or something along those lines, you're probably going to upset the rest of the Wild Coyote boars. So just kind of a forewarning there. Obviously, there's going to be repercussions depending on what you do. But if you're doing something subtle, like just assessing the situation, there shouldn't be an issue. So feel free to roll for that.
What is assess the situation?
That one is creativity.
Yeah. It's a three.
It's a three.
Okay.
So, uh, you are really distracted holding these people back. There's one shop owner in particular that's.
Like, yeah, I want to smash his face.
And you got to really hold this guy back.
You're doing everything in your power.
You might even be using a little bit of earth bending to kind of.
Put a wall behind yourself to just like, you can't do that right now. You got to let him do his thing.
Um, so you're just holding somebody back. So you're having a hard time being able to look behind you and kind of assess this guy that, uh, Bill is fighting for.
An apple cart vendor or a candied apple cart vendor. You're pretty sour.
I left bushels all day.
And he takes an apple and he goes to throw it at, uh, this Wild Coyote boar member. I'll roll and see.
I hear fucking apples.
That's a seven. So technically, it would hit it, like, bounces off his arm.
Okay.
Um, so when this happens, one, uh, of the other Wild Coyote board members is like, let's, uh, say, uh, this scrawny little dude, right, with the weird spine.
He's like, hey, I saw that. Hey, uh, what are the rules here? We're going to mess you up. Hey, that guy's cheating. That guy's cheating. He's throwing apples.
And the big dude, he kind of, like, glances over at the caramel apple sale or candied apple, you said?
Yeah, whatever.
The candied apple guy. And he just goes and he just slams his fist into his palm to make, like, a really loud slap sound. And the guy just turns white. And you immediately feel him pull back or kind of stop pushing against you. Uh uh. Now you're fine. Now this guy's not going to cause any more trouble. He kind of, like, fades. Uh, like, uh, Homer Simpson when he goes into the bush in that GIF that everybody does. Uh, or that meme or whatever. Yeah, that's what this guy kind of does with the group. He just kind of, like, disappears back into the so. All right, so back over to Bill. Bill, what were you going to, uh, do in this combat situation?
We're still just in monoimano.
Yes.
Uh, defend and maneuver again.
Okay, go for it.
Bill's got his bread and butter. Uh, nine again.
Nine. Nice. Okay.
Do you have something specific you want to do?
No.
Retaliate.
Retaliate again.
Okay.
He's just going to slowly whittle this guy down while blocking his attack.
Uh, this character that you're fighting right. Again, we don't know his name just yet, or I don't think it's been mentioned. He's going to pressure you. So, uh, it says impress or intimidate a foe, in this case, obviously intimidate. Choose an approach. Your foe cannot choose to use that approach. In the next exchange, uh, you guys are locked staff to wood to wood, for lack of better terms. And he glares at you deep into your eyes, and he says, what are you going to do? You're going to block me this whole time? You're not gonna try anything offensive? Because if that's the case, I'm gonna knock you down, walk over you, and go beat the crap out of that old man. And, uh, you feel the urge to not simply defend after this point?
Well, Bill just grits his teeth, and he just stances ground, basically.
Okay, sounds good. Um, all right, so we'll go into the next round. Uh, anybody doing anything else while bill and I decide?
Yeah, go for it. I had a question.
Yeah, absolutely.
So I have an overwhelm technique that says it has to be on an engaged foe. So I can't just sucker punch a guy with my overwhelm, or can I? Because to be engaged, does that mean I have to be in combat with them or just, like, in their vicinity?
I would say because of the way that combat works in this game, where you can kind of jump in and out of it pretty quickly, I would say you could probably pretty quickly engage with somebody as long as you're within reach, or if you do something that's able to reach them. So, yeah, I mean, if you want to sucker punch somebody you're standing next to, I don't think that would be an issue, in my opinion.
Okay.
Can I do that now?
Sure. Yeah.
All right.
It's a combat move, right?
Yeah. Okay.
I'm about to blow at least my cover here.
Oh, no. I'm best friends with this chick.
Um, while the scuffle is going on, I'll be like I'll go up to the big guy and just say, like, hey, bro, uh, how many teeth you got?
Normal amount.
That is fantastic news. And so what I would like to try and do with you is, uh, I'd like to change that right now. And so I'm, um, going to use my overwhelm. Throw a punch with all your weight behind it. Mark three fatigue to inflict stunned on an engaged foe.
Okay. Is, uh, that going to be an advanced an attack?
An advanced an attack, yeah.
Okay, sounds good.
Uh, doesn't say I have to roll. Does it just happen?
Yeah, well, you'll roll to determine if you successfully advance an attack, like, for the whole maneuver in general. Real quick. Real quick. Do you know what you're doing, Bill, for this? Okay, so all exchange or all combat kind of happens at the same time, kind of similar to, like, DND, even though you take turns. So, uh, what approach are you because you can't take defendant maneuver.
I'm advancing that.
You're going to advance an attack? You're going to advance an attack?
I said you had oh, yes, yes.
And then what is doing?
So GuoHan, now that the Coyote board gang is being kind of riled up over there, he's like, I gotta keep this crowd on our side. Energized, uh, here. Yeah, I try to start, like exactly.
Bill.
Tor. Um, I'm going to say, uh, that.
Could be a bolster.
Yeah, you could jump in it. Also, uh, since it's invade and observe. And granted, Bill doesn't have any fatigue right now, but it would clear one fatigue, but otherwise it would give him favored or something to that effect. Uh, well, hold on, hold on. Since that's an invading, uh, so we do it in order. So advance an attack or sorry, uh, defend a maneuver, which nobody's taking would be the first thing, right? Uh, actually not true. After intimidating you into not defending, this, uh, guy is going to defend a maneuver. So he is going to take a page out of your book, which in and of itself is kind of ironic, and he's going to retaliate. So he feels the urge that you have in knowing that he kind of is like, um, taunting you, in a sense, to attack him. He's going to take sort of a defensive stance and prepare himself. So that's what he's doing. Um, and then we go to advance and attack. So you two, Brock and Bill are both taking an advance and attack. So you two can both roll and do yours. And then, Dave, uh, with Guo, you're going to be doing an evadium, uh, observe technique. So that'll come in.
Yes.
I'll, uh, roll with creativity.
That's right.
I got a six.
Nice.
I got a nine.
We can go.
Nice, Dave.
I'm very excited.
First of all, we'll start with Bill. Bill, what did you get?
Uh, eight.
Eight, okay.
So, yep, you get to choose one of those, uh, the basic or master strike.
Strike.
Okay, sounds good. So you're going to force him to mark. He, uh, can either mark two. Fatigue condition or shift his balance away from center. So you mark a fatigue if you want to hammer him with blows, I.
Want to mark a fatigue.
So, uh, you would mark a fatigue to make sure that he takes the two fatigue.
Yes. Okay. Got it.
So, yep, that's what he's going to.
Does another one to me.
Yeah.
So you take one phil basically just says, I'll donkey real folds a staff.
Like, above his head, like a down position.
Okay.
And he just starts just, like just pulling it straight down overhead, just whacking as hard as he can. Hammer this guy straight into the ground. And he's just like I don't know, just grunting really loudly, like tennis. Uh, basically each strike right into this guy.
Got you. And then, of course, while you're hitting him amidst your blows to his noggin, uh, he occasionally, when he's not blocking, will lash out with, um, his sword. And he hits you, obviously once to deal that one fatigue. But otherwise, awesome. You've just donked him real good. Uh, Guo.
What's up?
So, for this whole balance, have we ever explained really how that works?
Dave is asking about how balance works in this game. Great question, Dave. This is something we haven't but admittedly, probably should have covered more leading up until this point. So here's a brief overview of how balance works.
Yeah.
So basically, um, as you're going along and your balance changes away from center, uh, usually in one direction or the other, based on things that you do, um, that kind of lean towards that side of your balance, right? So, for instance, uh, Bill, what was yours again? Yours was self reliance and trust.
Okay.
So as Bill does things that lean, um, towards him doing it himself and not needing you guys or not needing anybody's support, he might move towards that self reliance if he ever goes to the end and then does, like, one more thing that would put him over the edge. Uh, it's really bad. Bottom line, uh, basically, you lose control of yourself. You do something harmful to yourself or to those around you because, um, from a personality standpoint, you've pushed yourself too far, essentially, into a direction that's harmful to you. Once that happens, usually we'll, um, resolve it, obviously, um, there will be kind of a residual effect of some sort, and then we'll put you back in the center. Um, and that goes for both ways.
Right.
If he relies on you guys too often, then he's going to go over the edge on team or, uh, team. And that's going to lead to him not being able to handle things on his own. And that's going to have repercussions as well. So as you're going, that's going to change things. Um, and throughout the game, uh, as you're doing various tasks and stuff, I might ask you to make a balance role. And then you will get either a plus or minus based on where you're sitting at to that balance role, um, on your balance track. So if I make you do something for a role that's for self reliance, then if you've already moved a couple in self reliance, you might get a bonus to that role. But, um, it's probably going to keep pushing you more and more and more towards self reliance, which could lead to you going off the edge. So it's kind of this interesting, like, give and take, right? So that's how the balance works.
And if I rolled for one of my traits, what determines which way I would move then? If you said make sure a self reliance check.
Yeah.
What are yours out of curiosity?
Mine are results and restraint.
Okay.
So, um, Guo wants to see things either completed and will do whatever it takes to get them done, or he will show restraint and say, hey, we need to plan more. We need to, um, discuss what kind of place that we want to end up with this situation or whatever the case. So it'll be just a matter of me asking you to make a role based on decisions you make. And to be honest with you, I've probably been a bit lax on that leading up until now. Hopefully, once we go into season two, we'll have, um, certain rules that we'll have a little bit better grasp on and that's where we'll be at. But as of right now, it's not so much of an issue. But that's kind of a basic overview of how that all works. So that's a basic overview.
On balance in the Avatar Legends game.
I hope this helped clear some things up. And again, moving forward, we'll do a bit more to challenge each character's current balance, calling them out and seeing if anyone ends up tipping over the edge. That's all for this mini tutorial discussion. Now back to the episode. You were also doing an attack and advance an attack. Advance an attack.
Right.
Okay.
So Brock, what did you get?
I got a six.
Six.
There's no plus or anything to it.
That's with the, uh, man.
So that is one shy of succeeding. So you actually take a swing at this big guy and he normally doesn't look like a very smart guy, but apparently he caught on to what exactly you were referring to when you said, I'm going to change how many teeth you have. And he ever so slightly tilted his head, which resulted in you kind of nicking him right in the cheek. Uh, but it wasn't really enough to deal any damage. And now he knows that you're not his friend. Uh, and he's a little bit upset with that. Um, I'm going to leave that as, uh, he's not going to have any kind of retaliation or anything because I'm going to call that kind of a surprise attack. He didn't have time to choose something on the list to respond to it with. But moving forward now, you've basically entered into combat with him.
Fantastic.
Big guy versus big guy over in the back while Bill is handling the leader. Um, and then Guo, you are doing an evade and observe. And you rolled a you said a nine.
Got a nine.
Perfect. Awesome.
So you're bolstering and you're saying Bill.
Bill.
And from that, you are going to give Bill an appropriate status. Um, yes. Would you like to give him it'd probably either be empowered, favored, or inspired. Either one of those three, I would say, are perfect. So empowered. M says your abilities are naturally stronger in this moment. Clear one fatigue at the end of each exchange. Uh, that's the rounds that we were talking about, uh, or favored, which is your boyed by circumstance. Choose an additional basic or master technique.
On your next favored.
Probably.
Okay, so he's the crowd yeah, that's right.
He's the crowd favorite. Awesome.
So as everybody's cheering and then Bill, you're over there. You're donking this guy, like, up and down the face with your, uh, bow staff, and you're feeling kind of like, energized by these crowds, like, chanting for you. You've never felt like, quite this level of just kind of, I can't say inspiration because obviously that's a separate condition or a status in and of itself. But you just feel, um, like, hey, I've got people behind me, standing behind me, supporting me, whatever the case. So, um, you are going to be able to choose a second in the next exchange. You can choose an additional basic or master technique to use.
Um, and then so on a roll of nine, seven to nine, I get to do two basic techniques. Then under that.
Oh, okay.
So I'm going to also test the balance of this gang leader. And I want to ask him what his principle is by saying, like, why are you even here? What do you believe in?
Uh, okay, cool. So, yeah, you question him of his.
Principle, and he pauses combat to give me a formal response.
And as he's trying to block these he's gritting his teeth. He's trying to block these blows from Bill. He says, it's about drive.
It's about power. I, uh, stay hungry and I devour.
Uh, and in all honesty, I kid you not, his principle that I put down his drive. Uh, so based on that answer, you kind of gauge that he feels some need to prove himself and prove, uh, his strength. Uh, maybe he feels inadequate at home, or maybe he feels inadequate to his family or something along those lines. So he has this personal need to show that he's stronger than everybody else and better than everybody else to prove that he is worthy of some level of either, uh, attention or, uh, self importance of some sort. So anyway, so that's what you gauge from that. Okay, perfect.
Awesome.
Uh, uh, we're going to reset the round. Does Mika have anything that she's up to, or is she just kind of, like, trying to lay low still over there? Was she talking to Chicra?
Yeah. I'm waiting for my.
On the ground.
Tying everyone's shoelaces together.
Awesome.
All right, so we're going into next exchange. I assume everybody's pretty much staying in their combat situations as they were before. Feel, uh, free for those that are engaging to pick, uh, a combat approach from the list.
I don't suppose I could just tell the big guys, just a prank, bro, and back away.
You could switch over. Like I said, at the end of the day, it's really about you can jump in and out of combat. So, I mean, if you want to switch over and take a trick and try to see if you can do that to convince him that, hey, no big deal.
Uh, just getting him prepared for the battle ahead and making sure his reflexes are on point.
Yeah. Can I use my Earth sinking on the guy?
Good. What is that?
Uh, that would be syncophoe into the Earth itself. Mark two fatigue to trap an enemy standing on the grunt. Wait, do I still have to mark the three fatigue even though it didn't hit for the overwhelm?
No.
Okay, so, yeah, I try to use earth sinking to just sink him into the ground.
And then which approach does that fall under?
That is advancing attack.
Okay, because I have this favorite thing.
Can I do it do I have.
To do it within the same approach?
I don't think so. I think you could take two separate.
I wanted to fend a maneuver and then advance an attack.
Okay, so it's just the order in.
Which we will well, one's an auto success.
Okay.
So I'm going to roll for the defendant maneuver.
Okay, sounds good. All right. And then, uh, Guo, what are you going to do?
So I'm going to try to bully this guy.
Okay.
Get under his skin.
So you're going to hinder?
Uh, no, I'm going to try to evade and observe again in hopes of testing his balance.
Okay.
Driving him towards his drive.
Okay.
All right, sounds good.
Sounds good.
All right.
Sweet.
Okay, so, uh, we'll start off with Bill. Uh, you're going to defend a maneuver, which you will be rolling for, um, go for it.
Nine.
Nine.
Okay, sweet.
What did you retaliate? Okay, awesome. So you, uh, get your bow staff, right? Okay, so you just did a whole bunch of blows to him. You guys both kind of, like, take a step back, taking some breaths, catching.
Your breath, spiel about driving power.
That's right. And then you take your bow staff and you are readying yourself for whatever he's about, uh, to pull next.
So he gives this speech about driving power. And then Bill, while holding his bow staff, holds it in one hand, and then gives the fighter taunt of like.
Come and get me, come and get me.
With bringing his fingers towards his palm. Come and get me. Puts his hands back on the bow staff, ready his stance.
Okay, sounds good. Uh, I mean, just out of curiosity, normally players, uh, would go first, but do you want him to advance an attack first or do you want to do it?
Well, retaliate is just a response.
Yes.
So I want him to attack first.
Okay, sounds good.
It's going to counter.
Sounds good.
Okay, so he's going to strike kind of per, the usual. So he's going to force you to either mark two fatigue a condition or shift your balance from center.
Yeah.
He's just going to let you choose.
Um I'll mark your condition.
Okay, sounds good.
Which condition?
Angry.
Okay, sounds good.
He's just pull on, uh, that would make sense. Bill, uh, so that remark about, uh, the old man oh, okay. Really got under Bill's skin and that's why he started attacking him and yeah.
Bill's just like furious at this. What a piece of crap. This jerk is here to just beat up my beat up an old man proverbial dad almost. Yeah, awesome. Okay, sounds good. Uh, switching over.
He takes a fatigue.
Yes, he will take a fatigue in response. Um awesome. He is looking exhausted. This guy has been pounding away and taking blows. I mean, he's got bruising all over his face. Um, so he is not looking great. I'm just going to put that out there. Brock wanted to do, wanted to do.
The earth sinking on the big guy.
Okay. So yep.
Then it would be your turn for actually yeah, we'll do that. Yeah, that's fine because also Bill has to attack as well. So what are you doing?
Uh, I'm doing the earth sinking and I rolled a seven.
Seven.
So that's a success.
Sick. Sick.
All right, so he goes and he all of a sudden just drops like 3ft just straight into the ground a little bit. I mean, obviously he's a big guy. I mean, this guy's probably like somewhere around like seven foot or so. Uh, obviously this is going to either kind of like up his legs, maybe to his knees, maybe a little bit higher or so. Um, I don't know the average proportions of human beings, but I would say somewhere around there. Uh, so now he's trapped in the ground. Uh, ironically, he was going to take the smash action because he was furious. So he's going to use that to smash the ground below him. But he does take a fatigue in order to do that. Um, he smashes the ground to pull himself back out.
Well, that's a shame.
Well, you did like I said, you knocked him down a fatigue, which is always nice.
I'll take the big guy with a ton less fatigue.
I'm good with that.
That's right. M. And then Bill, you are going to do an additional approach. Strike. Okay, so you're striking basically, he goaded.
Him in, and now he's just going to strike him straight down now that.
He'S got him, like, all right, sounds good. And then are you going to mark that fatigue to ensure that he takes oh, yeah, okay, sounds good. So with that, you, uh, dash forward. Like I said, this guy's looking like crap.
He just attacked you.
Uh, and then you retaliated. So he's a little off balance. You use this opportunity to lurch forward, strike out sort of like in a stabbing motion to really reach past his defenses of his, uh, wooden katana and slam him right in the chest with a nice just, uh, sort of jab attack. Uh, this knocks him backwards and he falls to the ground and lands on his back. Dust cloud kind of comes up from where he lands. And he lays there, he tries to pick himself up and he falls back down again and he lays there. He's not dead by any means, but he's out. He is, uh, not unconscious, but he's not getting back up. Uh, the rest of the Wild Coyote bores look a little bit confused. Uh, the big guy, he kind of turns around after just pulling himself out of the ground. And, uh, he looks sort of a mix of, like, concerned and angry. Uh, the three of them are standing there, not 100% sure what to do. Uh, Guo, what were you planning on doing?
Well, now plans have changed, I feel.
Like, because you were going to call him out.
Yeah. Uh, so I'm going to, I guess, try to get these guys to beat it. Grab one of those apples from the guy next to me, like, now get out of here.
Everybody's just got apples. You've been handing out apples from behind the scenes this whole time while everybody was cheering, you're like, hey, take this apple. Trust me, we're going to need it. All right, so you guys are all.
Going to start throwing.
I like to imagine this image of Bill standing over this guy knocked down, and he's standing there with his bow staff. And then the rest of the Wild Cody boards look over at Bill as.
He'S standing there, and then he points.
His bow staff at them. And right when he points, like, all the apples over his head cabbages, and.
You hear a loud, there's some on the road.
All right.
Yeah, I like that. Okay, so, yeah, you step up and you step walk up to, uh, this downed gang leader. You put your bow staff kind of on his chest to say, stay down or whatever. Not that he's getting up anyways. And then, yeah, you look over at the rest of the Wild coyote boars and you point your staff over at him. And as you do this, you hear Guo shout out, now. And all of a sudden yeah, this just stream of produce comes flying through the air towards the wild coyote boars. Now, the one down, I was going to say the one downside is Mika standing over there with this group. What are you doing, Mika? As this flurry of, uh, fruits and shampoo comes flying towards you, I'm going.
To grab a fruit and try and have a snack.
M, you're going to try to catch one out of the air.
All right, let's see. This is friendly fruit.
I'm going to call this to rely on your skills and training. So go ahead and roll for that.
For her to catch some produce.
Catch produce. Did you do a lot when Bill pointed at them? Um, he was not expecting a horde of, uh, fruit, so he kind of got a little surprised. But then he's trying to play it cool, like yeah, that was the plan.
It's like when planes fly right over a dude.
I got, uh, uh, eight.
Yeah. Okay.
So, uh, I would say that's good enough to do it. You don't do it very well. Uh, so as you catch one piece of fruit, you get hit by three other apples or something. Um, I'm going to say put her.
Body on the line, Mark.
One fatigue for that. Uh, but otherwise yeah. You're holding in your hand a banana. Uh, yeah, they probably have bananas. I wasn't sure we were going to nut.
A banana nut.
Uh, banana nut got like a hint.
Of cashew to it, but anyways, okay, so yeah, you've got a piece of fruit, but you're standing there eating this as more fruit is getting thrown at you.
That's fine. I guess it has to stop eventually.
These guys grow produce.
Wait, they think so.
It's continuous. It's not like.
I would say that they do one volley to throw these fruits and stuff at them and then obviously they're getting donked, donke, donk. They're getting hit with it. Uh, the little scrawny guy, he's really complaining. He kind of runs behind the big burly dude. The big burly dude, on the other hand, is just kind of taking it, it's just like bouncing off him, no big deal. Uh, chicra. She's not a huge fan of it. She's got her staff and she's trying to swing at it and knock it out of the air as it's coming at, um, you guys, what do you guys do at this point?
As really don't like Mika, uh, because she's talking them, she's just eating their.
Fruit, trying to make a statement and she's like, oh, I don't really like that one. They all start aiming explicitly for Mika. Bill, m, you were surprised at first and then as the volley kind of slows down. Are you doing anything or saying anything?
No, he's letting the people have their moment. He doesn't want to charge in and get CULTED in the back.
Okay, uh, they throw the one volley and then you hear a couple of the vendors that are part of the group. They're like, okay, stop.
Okay.
I only wanted, like, one you guys could throw one each. Okay, don't throw all my stuff. All right. So you don't think there's any more fruits and vegetables coming at this point, and everybody's kind of standing there awkward. Uh, the wild coyote, boars, definitely. Look, I mean, for the most part, fairly defeated across the board, all things considered. They're just standing there. Nobody knows what it is that they should do.
They should get out of there.
I was going to say for Mika's moment, could I start to disengage from the big guy and just go to Chicra and just be, like, try and take her down too? I need to stop engaging with people if I have these crappy roles.
I mean, you are more than welcome, because he was kind of distracted by the fruits mean, all of them were kind of distracted by the fruits and vegetables. So if you want to disengage with him and then walk around to try to take on Chicra, which one's Chicra again? She is the chick that you guys.
Had, you know, who's asked me about, oh, it must be great to not have a dad.
Let's throw stuff at her because she.
Doesn'T know how to oh, yeah, there you go.
Well, she has a dad. Meek is the one that doesn't.
Is that all you had to talk about?
And I know how to catch. I just proved it.
But how if you don't, she can catch one.
So can I ask, like, if I.
Were to try to engage with Chief.
Would you join me?
Okay.
I need more than a you got to do it.
I got, uh, to do it.
You said you're waiting for your moment.
Yeah.
And you don't know when my moment.
Is going to be.
She's eating fruit.
All right.
He's not giving any of her signs right now.
There's no tells. Yeah, I've got no luck with the can I just walk up behind Chikra during this whole thing and just try and do, like, a sweep the leg maneuver?
Sure.
Yeah.
We'll call that a strike, obviously.
Yeah.
So go ahead and roll for that.
Five, six, seven.
Hey, that's just enough to do it. All right, sounds good. So you strike. Um, I'm going to say that because it's a sneak attack, I'll let you do the condition. So basically she is we'll call it stunned.
If it's a sneak attack, would I say it's afraid? Because she wouldn't be insecure.
Yeah, no, that makes sense.
Okay.
So she's going to mark afraid minus.
Two to intimidate and call someone out.
So you are knocking her asunder you're sweeping the leg. Um, engaging afraid because you snuck up behind her and kind of caught her really off guard. Not to mention the fact that she's kind of afraid from this group that suddenly turned against them and all that kind of stuff. So, uh, she falls to the ground. She hits the ground. Um, she looks up and sees that you were the one to do it. And she says, oh, my gosh, I thought you were on our I did.
No.
And she looks over to Mika, and she's like, Mika, help me. He's bullying me.
Is she on the ground?
Yeah.
If you curb stomp her right. No going to be very concerned about I was going to say, I guess here's my moment.
I was going to be like, well, maybe I'll sweep the leg and make sure she's down for the count.
But you were too long.
She's down.
Double sweep the leg.
You start kicking her leg.
I want.
You to just throw that apple as hard as you can.
Right.
I have a banana.
You like ground ah.
Hardness.
Coconut sound.
Right.
Or else you just pull heel off of it. Now she's standing up, you throw it under her foot.
Just like right in the solar plexus joke.
Oh, gosh.
The best running joke is there smashed fruit.
Okay.
Because we were yeah, you guys got bombarded.
Is there potentially water would be considered juice? Could I water bend?
You're saying you want to pull some juice out of the fruit that's around you?
Yeah. That's pulling up on the ground. Because we just got annihilated.
Sure.
Are you going to do a, uh, combat technique with it, or are you just going to pull it out?
For the moment, I'm just going to, um waterboard.
Just kidding.
Waterboard.
I have some influence on these characters.
Okay.
Uh, I don't know what do that. No, but do you want to I mean, we can start with pulling the juice out of the fruit and see if that's successful. So do another rely on your skills and training.
Then we got another eight.
Nice. Okay.
Uh, you do it imperfectly, so you only get, I would say, a certain amount, uh, let's say, like, a cupful of juice, uh, of varying fruit and vegetable juice. You've made a weird V eight smoothie in the air, and you're holding it there, so you've got it. What do you want to do with it? Chica is definitely kind of confused. She was like, Help me. And then you pulled juice out of fruits and stuff. She's a little confused on how that's helping her, but I guess she's not upset. She's open to the possibilities.
Don't want you to cramp up now.
Is anyone else doing anything while she's doing this? I mean, Brock, you're kind of standing over Chica at the moment.
Yeah, Bill, you asked what I was doing.
Yes.
I am standing in the middle, and I'm going to point directly at the big guy.
Okay. All right.
Your turn now, big guy.
Okay.
You're going to call him out?
I already got him one fatigue, so I warmed him up for you.
Oh, nice. Good.
Yeah. We'll just say that you're calling him out. Okay. I'm not call him over to combat and he seems like the type because he just instantly is like okay, stopping over towards you. Um, so you're ready to go as far as you're concerned with this guy? Did you have something you were ready to do, Mika?
Um, with the juice, I'm thinking of, uh, throwing it at Brock.
Bro, she really is taking us in.
Order to trick, um, Chicra.
Is this not your is she's literally.
Laying on the ground?
I don't know what you want me to do.
You're basically choosing the other side.
But if I trick her, then my hopes were if I roll, uh, but they overcommit and they are deceived for some time.
Okay, well, uh, feel free to roll a trick then as you try to go to throw this.
Well, I mean, it's just not enough water to really do any damage.
M, it's not going to hurt and.
It'S just like, it'd be like a water balloon. I'll aim for his shoulder or something like oh yeah, I mean it's not.
Going to do damage to him by any means. Just get you a little sticky or something wet.
I'll have to take two showers this week.
Oh no you won't.
He'll just washing dishes, they'll be fine.
All right, so Cheekwood's on the ground. We got the big guy standing squaring up to Bill. Now with the smaller guy behind him.
How far away is the big guy.
Trouncing his way over?
He'd be making his way over to Bill, but I mean, he's probably not more than like 10ft at this point from where you are because he just was walking away from you because, um, you guys were all kind of huddled together.
Right? But where is he? In accordance to the three of us, if I were to throw this water balloon at Brock but I missed and I hit the doo buddy on the back of the head, would that be possible or not? Yeah, I wanted to, but this way Chicra thinks I'm still on her questioning. What?
Yeah, right, okay.
I'm just trying to dissuade the other guy's attention.
You use your trick to pretend to throw the juice at Brock and miss intentionally. The juice goes flying and instead hits the big guy.
Yeah.
So in trick you get to pick one of the following options. They stumble, take plus one forward, acting against them. They, um, act foolishly. The GM tells you what additional opportunity and then you said you wanted to do. They overcommit their deceit for sometimes. So you're like, oh dang, I missed him with the juice and Chico's like, uh, dang, that was really close. It's okay, you get points for trying a for effort.
Yay.
As she's like picking herself up off the ground, kind of wary of Brock who's still standing there. Um, and then the big guy, I mean, it splashes onto the back of his head and he kind of like, turns around. He glares over. There, and then chica just said, yeah, you just shrug. Uh, and chica's like, sorry, berkeley, our bad. And he goes and he just turns around and keeps walking back over towards did guo have something that he was doing?
Uh, so guo is he's assessing the situation?
Right. Okay.
Uh, so he's looking where everybody's at?
Take advantage of the water.
I'm going to roll and see if.
I get asked a question.
Yeah, absolutely.
So I got an eight.
Awesome.
So you get one of those questions on the list.
All right, so he's looking for stuff in the environment. What here can I use to hurt or impede? Like that smaller guy or the little guy? I don't want it to be too, um, on. Looks like they have Chiker kind of handled. I don't want it to be too, um on bill.
Sure.
Is there, like, I don't know, barrels or, like, a potted plant in a window sill? Like a cart of cabbages up the hill?
All things considered, you're in, like, a town center, so I would say all of those things are available.
Produce cart.
If you suggest something to me, I'm probably not going to say no. That's how I'll answer that question. I noticed this cabbage cart no, wait, pumpkin cart. Because there was that pumpkin guy, wasn't there? Wasn't that the pumpkin salesman?
Yeah.
Earlier when you guys like the squid.
We met a guy outside and trying to sell us. I thought it was pumpkin.
I think it was pumpkin.
There's a pumpkin salesman.
He's a catchy pumpkin guy. I feel like he's got the no, I can talk to the pumpkin guy.
Okay.
So I go up, is he from the saw? Dude, you know where these, uh, wild coyote boys are, bro?
The wild coyote boys, those bunch of.
Mischievous.
Kids always charge me money not to squish my pumpkins.
Yeah, we're trying to find them, so maybe they don't have to charge anybody anymore. You know where they are?
I always see him going. I always see him m going.
Where is it?
Which direction is it?
Every time at the end of the.
Night when I see him scamming up.
A bunch of people, I always see him heading southeast.
Southeast. That's the polar opposite direction from m.
Where we are headed.
Where are you headed?
We are headed northwest for reasons that are not your business, mr. Pumpkin man.
You seem kind of rude for a guy that just asked me some questions.
I apologize that's talking to people, it's not my strong suit.
Well, I tell you what. You asked me a question, and I.
Gave you an answer.
M, you're here.
I don't even want to know.
But if I answered your question, I feel it's only fair for me to ask you one, and you to give me a straight answer.
That, uh, sounds fair.
You want to buy some pumpkins?
Sorry, we are not interested in buying.
Some pumpkins right now, Derek Blambit.
I knew you'd say that. Why does anyone want pumpkins?
And he wheels his cart away. So there's a pumpkin cart.
I noticed. Like, the wheels are like chalked. I could just undo those.
Okay, then. Pumpkins are rolling. All right.
Oh, yeah. I could just open the cart or.
Yeah, whatever you want to do. Um, they're not necessarily on, like, a hill, though, so I don't know if they but, I mean, you could do something with the cart to make it.
You could Earth bend a ram.
Yeah, that's true. So there you go. There's your assessment. Uh, situation. All right, so we're going to jump into another, uh, exchange here. Currently on the board is Bill going up against the big guy, aka Berkeley, which is how I'll refer to him from this point forward, since his name was said. Um, Brock is engaged with Chicra, who's picking herself up off the ground. Um, Guo has something in mind that he's going to do with that pumpkin cart, probably. And then, Mika, you're engaged with Brock, I think. I don't know. We're not really sure where Mika is going with this. Um, we'll have to see. So everybody pick your combat approach. Uh, unless you're Guo, in which case you can kind of pick whatever. Um, since you're not engaged in combat, per se.
Has, um, Chikra established if she's a bender or not?
Uh, yes, she is the firebender. So when you guys were at the party, she, uh, had kind of, like, snapped her fingers and lit a little flame in her hand.
Gotcha. I'll advance an attack.
All right, sounds good.
Has she fully gone up yet, or is he going to I think she's.
Like, on all fours at this point. Somebody wouldn't curb stomp her.
This is a family friendly podcast.
When all right, sounds good. Is everybody good?
What are you doing?
I'm a tiny gal. Okay.
What are you doing, Mika?
I'm going to if that is your real name.
That is your real name.
I guess I'll avoid okay, sounds good.
So, Bill, you're defending a maneuvering.
Anyway, bill is going to Republicans.
Bill is going to retaliate. So, uh, you prepare yourself for whatever comes from Berkeley. Additionally, um, Chicra is also going to be defending a maneuver. So since we got order, growth, advancing.
An attack okay, good. Got it. Awesome.
So she is going to seize a position. She's simply going to try to disengage with Brock. She knows when she's kind of outside of her league. Um, and she is going to overcome a negative status or danger, um, establish an advantageous gosh position, um, or escape a scene. Uh, you can take one fatigue to block her from doing this if you would.
Like, if I don't? Does that mitigate the nine that I just rolled for my advancement? Would I still miss on my advancement attack?
What do you mean?
Like, since she's trying to disengage right. My advanced attack is just kind of a wash. Yeah.
Because she would be pulling out of the combat situation, basically.
Yeah.
Mark 150.
All right, sounds good. So she's, like, starting to get up, and she looks like she's going to just dash away, but instead you grab her or something, like, from the back of the collar or something. So it's like some scooby Doo looking trying to run away and just running in place instead of getting away. Um, as you gear up for your advance and attack. So, um, that's everything for defendant maneuver. Who's. Dave for Guo. Uh, Connor, uh, for Brock. And are you doing advance and attack as well, Mika?
Okay, sounds good.
So all three of the rest of you are all doing advance an attack, and Berkeley is also going to be doing advanced attack, but you guys go first.
Okay, well, with mine, I have a question.
Yes.
I wanted to use pressure.
Okay.
Can I use it on chicra to impress okay. And so that she can't use one of the it says I can impress or intimidate a foe. Choose an approach. Your foe cannot choose, uh, to use that approach. In the next put myself since know has a hold of her, can I put my hand on Brock's arm so she can see my left, brock can see my right. I'm gonna wink at Brock, and I'm gonna say to Shikra, uh, don't worry, I got this.
Okay, but if I can only see one half of your face yeah, I.
Winked with the side that you can see, but she can't.
Okay, well, Brock doesn't understand winking.
I'm just hoping for the best of.
Recently, he struggles with personal wink, but he's been practicing.
It is on the top of his mind.
Uh.
He shudders because he felt like someone just winged.
Did you roll, by the way?
No.
Okay.
Roll for the advanced attack. So it would be passion eight.
Eight. Okay. So that's a success. So yes. Okay.
You impress her because, um, she's pretty intimidated by this big, burly gay.
Well, she's over committed to me too.
Sure, that's right. So she, um, is easily influenced by you. I guess at the current moment, you're this cool chick that doesn't have a dad.
I'm everything she wants.
Exactly.
She's like, man, she does whatever she wants. She lives on the roof and sleeps there in a sleeping bag or something. And just all this other stuff, um, she gets rained on. That's pretty sick. So whatever the case. So, yeah, you're definitely able to impress her. Uh, what do you not want her to do? You can choose either defend a maneuver, advanced attack, or observe. What do you want to keep her from choosing next time?
Evade and observe.
Okay.
You don't want her to evade and yeah, okay.
Got it.
So she cannot take that because she's so impressed by you. She's like, yeah, okay. If Mika's doing this, then I'll defend myself.
I'll attack.
I don't need to look around and figure things out.
Okay. Got it. Awesome.
Keep her distracted.
Sure.
Uh, Gua, do you want to yeah. You're going to advance an attack.
Advance an attack.
Okay. What are you doing?
So he sees this pumpkin cart that's, like, right behind the other, uh, scrawny guy. It's like, man, this pumpkin cart is full, and it's got a latch on the front. I could just break that latch. It all comes spilling out. So Guo's gonna take one of the street cobbles, like, I don't know, about a foot around, and be like, all right, guo just like we practiced. And he's gonna try to because usually he's not the best Earthbender. Honestly, he's never been trained or whatever. You know, like, when they go in Avatar, they go to that one rock, uh, earth bending school.
Everybody's, like, punching their jars of sand and stuff like that.
Yeah.
Or, like, struggling to lift rocks. That's basically cool.
Sure.
So he's going to psych himself up and then lift this stone. It's, like, kind of wobbling, not super steady. And then he's going to launch it.
At the latch okay. Um, and hopefully break it.
Awesome.
Go for that.
He's trying to do a smash. Advance an attack.
Awesome.
Five, six, seven I had a plus one from my acting on.
Yes.
Okay, sounds good. Um, I would say that in this specific instance, um, everybody kind of out. Well, I would say probably I want to say that it would probably affect both Bill and Berkeley there we go. Since they're spilling out onto this sort of open area, battlefield, whatever, right. And it makes sense to be impaired. So it says, uh, you're slowed or off balance. Mark one, fatigue. Or take a minus two to all physical actions. Uh, choose one fewer technique. And that's just for NPCs. Um, that's what's on the battlefield right now. Uh, as you do this, you hear, uh, the guy from amidst the crowd shout, my pumpkins. Did you do your thing yet?
Not yet. Not yet. Okay.
And then we have Bill.
Of course.
I already retaliated.
Right?
You already retaliated. So you're good to go. Um, so you're attacking, right?
Yes.
Okay, so, uh, you tell me what you're doing then.
Uh, so I've got her by the back of the collar, right? And her legs are fully off the ground.
Are you saying I think you're just holding her, not, like, picking her up off.
Okay, I didn't pick her up. Yeah, I want to pick her up.
Okay.
And use my Earth Gauntlet. So I wrap my.
Finishing move here.
Oh, jeez. I feel like I can envision what this is going to turn into.
I haven't seen it.
I want to just wrap my fist around wrap earth around my fist.
And.
Just the mortal Kombat.
This isn't like I'm going to marshal.
And fatigue, but I'm going to punch her. I want to try and send her, like, flying through a wall or something.
Oh, my.
Which is a success.
Okay, this is how I'm envisioning it. You are holding her by the collar. She stopped know, like I said, running in. Um, and because Mika reassured her, like, hey, no worries, everything's going to be I've got my hand on his arm. He's not going to do anything to her. And then you promptly pull Earth from the ground onto your arm. And just before I hit her wait.
Where am I in the retaliation?
You're standing right next to him, just lightly holding his arm.
I know, but like, am I going to be.
Really trying to hold him.
Back.
Before I hit her?
Can I, like, pull her close and.
Just whisper, my dad taught me this.
And he just please?
Yes, absolutely. You do that. I mean, she doesn't even have time to respond, obviously, as, uh, you punch her in the back, like, square in the center of her shoulder blades, sending her flying and smashing through. This is a strike. No, this is Earth Gauntlet.
This is Earth Gauntlet.
And then how much does that do?
Like, uh.
It says mark, uh, fatigue. I think that's for me.
Inflict or for you?
Is that for me?
M or you?
The target is dead. She might not you would mark a fatigue and then you would inflict one condition or two fatigue.
Walls are softer than ever nowadays.
Uh, and then you knock your foe out of reach, which you're doing.
So I can inflict one condition or two fatigue.
Correct.
I'll inflict two fatigue.
Okay, sounds good.
And I guess she is yeah.
Out of reach.
She's out of reach at this point. You do get a fatigue doing I get a fatigue, yes. Right.
Um, I'm going to yell her name. While she's depicts for me. No, while she's being she cried.
I'm so sorry. I'll get it back for you.
No, I'm just yelling her name so she knows I'm concerned. Okay, we're not getting too invested in this bit.
All right, so one by one, you guys have basically exited people from the battlefields or from combat. So currently their leader is pretty much on the brink of unconscious on the ground. Uh, Chicra just got sent through a wall. Who knows where she's at at this point? She could have made her way halfway across the Earth kingdom with a punch like that. We'll have to find, um got. All right, so then you got Berkeley. He's stepping up towards Bill to throw a punch and all of a sudden these pumpkins come rolling out and, uh, really impede him. He is going to mark the fatigue in order to do what he wants to do, which of course is going to be so Berkeley is marking one in order to not be impaired by the pumpkins. And then he's marking an additional one for Earth Gauntlet. So he's wrapping his arm and fist in rock. So basically, as he's walking over, he kind of just leans down, touches his knuckles to the ground, and as he does, he like, scrapes up some earth, which then wraps around his hand. Kicks pumpkins out of the way as he goes, squishes them as well. Just kind of stomps on them. Again, the guy from the crowd screams.
No, it's my pumpkins.
And, uh, walks straight up to Bill and just, uh, slams his Earth fist down. Uh, so you're, uh, going to have to mark two fatigue. And he knocks you back into the crowd. And bowling style, it kind of knocks some people down.
Do I still?
You can mark yes.
So when he punches me, I just.
Do one final you sort of hit him as you're getting knocked backwards, like some martial arts movie you've ever seen.
Where, um, things ah, I blocked him enough. That just my block. Dubbed damage back to him. So he took three fatigue there, all in one go.
Uh, two. Well, one more from oh, yes, that's right. One more from you.
Uh, Bill goes flying back into the crowd. Maybe they catch him. Maybe he lands straight into that apple. No, I was imagining the apple candy guy was like, kicking the leader on the ground. But he goes flying back into the crowd and he's kind of like, uh, spiderman. Spiderman two.
Oh, everybody starts lifting you up. I'm out of fatigue.
Oh, okay.
So you are knocked near the battle. All right.
Earth gauntlet.
That's right. So Bill sits there amidst the crowd. Again, um, I would say with his retaliate and everything, he's not unconscious, but he's exhausted, he's bruised, he's beaten. Um, everybody around you puts their hands on you and they say, good job, Bill.
You did good.
You stood up for us. Uh, and then they all kind of look over at like, Brock because they're, you know, he seems like the last guy that could do something to this guy. I don't know. Um, so with that being said, we're going into another round of exchanges. Uh, the only thing left is Berkeley. Obviously standing there in the middle of a whole bunch of pumpkins all around him.
Just are you not entertained?
Um, he's pretty fatigued now.
He is he definitely looks exhausted. Um, he's, uh, taken a lot. He's a little bit soaked and sticky, um, from the juice bomb. Juice bomb should make that into a technique. Juice bomb. Um, what would everybody like to do? Uh, obviously Bill is currently kind of outside of the ability for combat right now. Um whoa, you just knocked open that thing, so you obviously are available. Brock is available. Um, Mika is in an unsure state, as usual. Um, so we'll see where that goes. Chicra is in an unknown location and the final Wild Coyote board member is just kind of standing there. He looks terrified. Uh, it's very possible that he is wet himself. Can I just like the awkward, can you, strong guy. His knees are knocking against each other.
I'm going to evade and observe.
Okay.
I will also evade and observe.
Okay.
Uh, glow.
He's going to advance and attack everyone.
Cowards closer.
So we'll move into the next, uh, combat approach. Berkeley, uh, standing there in the middle, is simply going to he is going to evade and observe, and he is going to outside of combat. Berkeley turns around and sees that Chicra is no longer there. And he starts to get concerned. And he looks over at Brock and.
He says, what have you done with Chikra? Where is she?
You see that hole in the wall there, big guy? Uh, she went through there.
And he starts to charge towards you. He can't full sprint towards you. Uh, but he looks furious. Uh, and he's trying to obviously dodge pumpkins along the way. It's not an attack at this point. Currently, he's just trying to kind of lumbers his way. I guess in a sense, it's technically, uh, Tasmanian devil. It'd be like a Caesar position. So we'll call it Caesar position. He's moving up towards you.
He's trying to engage with it.
Yes.
And he's going to try to engage with you. Um, he's going to do it cautiously. So, I mean, he's not going to gain any kind of benefit by any means, uh, because of the fact that the pumpkins are there, is how I'm going to say that. I mean, I suppose you have the option to mark a fatigue to stop him from doing this, but okay.
All right.
Sounds good.
All right.
And then, uh, was anybody doing an advance? Guo was doing an advance in attack. So what are you up to? Since that would be next in line.
We got our evade in the serves, right?
Yep.
And that'll be so at Berkeley's.
Head towards Brock now.
Yes.
Uh, well, GWOs he's like Bill. No, uh, he's going to pull out his pouch of stones.
The stone pouch.
The stone pouch.
There it is. Angry.
He's, uh, going to throw the stones up in the air, like opening the pouch. And then he's like he's going to try to hit Berkeley with these stones.
Okay.
Stone ball. Like a strike.
It's like a BB gun.
Yeah, BB gun. So you pull stones out of there, you throw them into the air, and then you just kind of, like, strike them. And they kind of go flying past berkeley missing, except for one, which flies over and donks him right in the back of the head. He goes and just like in the story of David and Goliath, which is ironic because Dave and then this Goliath, uh, he goes and he just tips over forward, falls to his knees, and then falls to the ground. And with that, Berkeley is down. And to top it off, well, technically, he would mark a condition, but I'm going to say that yeah, it's the fatigue for those doing evade and observe. What would you like to do at this point?
I know I've kind of I know exactly what I'm going to do.
Okay, what are you going to do?
So I'm observing situation. I see Bill's over there down for the count.
Basically, yeah.
I am going to use refresh.
Oh, okay.
Which, um, means I apply water to reinvigorate and close wounds on a willing target mark. Um, fatigue to heal an alley and reach who is evading and observing, clear an appropriate status from them, and clear three fatigue or two.
Wow. Okay.
So this is your moment, I guess. You rush back over to Bill's side, and at first, the people are really hesitant to let you in because they're.
No, no, you stay away from him.
He's a hero. And then you're like, no, I'm here to heal him. And so you pull out some water, some normal.
Yes.
Oh, that's true.
That's true.
To see if I can even do it.
That is true.
Nice. Okay.
So, yeah, it's a success. So, um, Bill, I assume, is probably like, no, it's fine. She's my friend. Let her through.
I currently am not.
You rush over to your friend's side and you start applying the water to heal Bill. You start to come to, and you look up, and there's a whole bunch of people standing around you.
Ah.
And you look over and you see Mika is, uh, applying water to your wounds. And you start to feel they kind of heal and they feel refreshed. And it feels pretty good. It feels pretty good. And you start to feel like a lot more back up on your feet, almost. Um, with that, who else was doing Invade and Observe?
I was.
But if there's only the little guy can intimidate work and Invade and observe, or is that another action?
Uh, we'll intimidate fallouts out of combat. So you can definitely do it. I mean, if you're not engaged with anybody right now yeah. You can just intimidate him.
Yeah, why not?
All right, sounds good. Um, so that will be a passion, so feel free to roll for it.
Passion.
Just passion.
Yes.
Uh, seven.
Nice.
All right, so, uh, on a hit, you get to choose one of those options. They run to escape or get back up. They back down. Pick one. Oh, that's right. Uh, they give in with a few stipulations or they attack you, but off balance.
Um, wait, sorry, where was so you.
Get to pick one.
They don't pick one. They don't choose.
Correct.
I will say they can't run and get back up.
Okay, sounds good. Um, without marking up a teeth, can.
I just wrap another Earth gauntlet around my arm? You want next, bud?
So he can't run and escape to get back.
Hey, guess what?
Mika's got a lot for water bending now with this guy just peeing all over himself.
Water this is what he does. He decides to, uh, give in, but with a few stipulations, he says.
Okay, all right, uh, look, we'll call off the money this time around, and, uh, for future payments, half, uh, price. How's that sound? Everybody?
How about can you even make those demands?
Yeah, you're not making demands here, but how about you return the money and you don't come back to this place again? How about that?
Uh, um what if I don't have the money?
Uh, can I wrap another earthcott, like, around my leg? Do you want to walk back to your hideout? Or you can fly.
Please, please. I don't have the money now, but, uh, I'll find a way to get it. I'll return the money to everybody, I swear. Please don't hurt me.
Kind of like turn around and ask if can we get anything else out of this guy?
Everybody's?
Like, maybe I don't know. I mean, I could deal with my money back. That'd be dope.
Return everyone's money.
Return everybody's money.
That's so much money.
Yes, it is.
And buy all this guy's pumpkins, and.
The guy's like, hell yeah. Does that mean the broken ones on the ground, too?
Every pumpkin and every piece of produce that was thrown at you guys, you're paying for.
Okay, all right, fine.
Uh, you have 24 hours.
24 hours? Look, please be merciful. I swear I'll get you your money. It might take more than 24 hours. So I've really got to steal from my parents?
That ain't going to work if it's going to take more than 24 hours.
Steal from pensioning, mother.
That's right. Oh, God. All right.
Best we can do is two days to return all the money you took from us and to never come back. To never come back. And to pay for that guy's pumpkins.
You can always try for hot leaf juice in Capital City.
No, uh, as far as you guys know.
Please, I'm just a kid. I live here in town with my family.
We're all kids. This dude with the pumpkins is only 14.
Are you 14?
Yes.
You're talking to Glow.
Yeah, this dude over here is only.
14 because the guy with the pumpkin.
Stall, he's like, I'm 38. What are you talking about?
Yeah, we're only, like, 1416 and 17, bro.
Look, okay, I tell you what. I'll get everybody their money, and I'll pay everybody for the produce, and we'll disband. We'll disband. I can't promise I can leave town. Like I said, I live with my parents, but, uh, we'll drop the gang. Or at least I'll drop the gang. I can guarantee that much.
Fair enough.
Fair enough.
Okay.
And he just, like, runs off down the street somewhere. All right, you guys did it. You guys defeated the Wild Coyote Boars. As far as you know, they will be disbanded. And they are supposed to be getting you your money back, obviously. Uh, you see, um, uh, their leader is still kind of laying there unconscious. Berkeley is still laying there unconscious. Chica, somebody might go check the building and see if she's laying inside the building.
So Bill rises up from the crowd and with his staff, he starts, like, walking, using it as a weight, and he just walks over to the leader, grabs him by the back of his collar, and then just starts dragging him down the road as he hobbles his way to the gathered all the way there.
Okay, well, the guards actually, uh, they come out and they're on their way over there, so you don't have to go far. If you want to just, like, toss him in front of one of the.
When the guards show up, he just takes it.
He just, like, throws in, tosses right.
In front of them.
All right.
Does he say anything?
Uh, take this filth and put him in the dungeon or whatever you guys have.
We've got some earth kingdom, uh, uh, uh, cages that we usually keep prisoners in. Great, uh, work from bringing down the wild cardi bores. Although public violence, uh, is usually not something that we support. But, I mean, it looks like okay.
When he started talking about this democratically.
It sure looks like the people of the city supported this, so who are we to stand in the way? Um, and so, uh, they start hauling, uh, the leader away. It takes, like, four or five guards and probably, like, a cart or something to haul Berkeley away. Um, one of them goes to mules.
I could come after him, like, wait, he stole my wallet.
Sorry, sir, what is this?
He stole my wallet.
Oh. He pats the guy down. He finds a wallet in there, and he's like is this your wallet?
Yes, that's the one.
All right, here you go.
And he hands it to you. And you see, uh, a couple of guards, they go through the hole in the wall of that building, and they find Chica in there. She's not, like, unconscious. Oh, yeah. She's just gone. She's not even in there. They don't find anything.
Disintegrated.
Oh, gosh.
Presumably, she escaped. Um, and then obviously, the guy that you guys wouldn't know, but his name is Squeegee, um, is gone, um, from the area I digress. Anyway, there you go. Uh, that's where things are at. What's your next move?
Uh, Guo takes he checks and sees if there's any money in it.
Oh, yeah. Uh, we'll say 50.
You want, uh, he goes over to the pumpkin cart. Hey, sorry, uh, about your pumpkin.
Hey, you got the job done, and they're going to pay me for the pumpkin. So I'll pick up the ones that.
Were, uh, not broken, and, uh, I.
Guess I'm a little unsure. Do I deliver them to the guy.
Or I'll just wait for him to.
Come pick him up?
I guess he I'm not sure if.
We'Re going to see. Those guys again. Uh, this is for the Smash Pumpkins.
I give him whatever wood color his eyes bulge out of his head when he sees 50 yuan. He's like, oh, my gosh, this is.
More than I usually see in a day. Unless it's Halloween season.
Or wait, what would they have in, like, Avatar, like, the evil soul season or evil spirit? There we go. Evil spirit season. Ah, he seems pretty happy. Uh, you go over to the building that had a hole punched through it. It's, uh, the guy that sold you the squids place. And he's like, oh, man.
Uh.
Maybe I could do like an indoor outdoor kind of a feel, like, uh, you kind of sit inside. We get a nice cross breeze.
Maybe I could do like that.
Or, um, I'll figure this one out, I guess.
Nice.
Just sick, bro.
Can I talk to the guys? Be like sick, bro. And then just because I have one fatigue left, just flump over and fall.
Yeah. He's like, oh, bro, wake up, bro. This is going to look really bad on my end if you just pass out in front of my shop. Make it look like my sushi's not good.
Brock's asleep. He's fast asleep. Chillin. Or I'll just sort of half asleep, sort of drag my body.
Brock's sleeping on the road is no different than this rock bed he gets back.
That's true. That is true.
It's like the comfiest like an Egyptian king mattress to him.
There you go.
All right, glow, uh, skin and go over to Bill. He's going to go, that's some solid work, Bill. How are you feeling?
Sore.
Um, but I don't know. Mika put the weird water stuff on me and I kind of feel better now. I still.
Mika'S got the sauce. That good sauce.
Has anybody seen Mr. O?
I was going to go check on him real quick.
Uh, are you with them? To some extent, yeah.
They'll just, like, kick me awake and.
Just you think, okay. And I'm with them as yeah.
Okay.
Sounds good. All right. Okay, so, Bill, go ahead and lead us.
I'll help pick up Rock and then lead him inside with over, like he's on my shoulder.
Okay.
And then I guess we all head inside.
All right. As you guys, uh, step inside of the shop, you're, um, a bit surprised. So nobody else is in there at the moment. Um, but you notice that the inside of the shop is very disheveled. Um, there's tables, chairs scattered around the room. Broken, not broken. Um, the register that you guys normally would keep your money and such in is smashed, uh, up and there's cups on the floor that are shattered. It's just a mess in there.
Hot leaf juice calling it.
Bill is going to immediately m trot.
Brock and go rush her into the.
Back to look for Mr. O'grott.
You don't get very far as, uh, you hear a moaning from behind a table that's been like slammed up against the wall kind of at an angle so that there's like a talk about.
And I go behind and see.
Okay, you pull the table out of the way and behind the table you see Mr. Okran lying on the ground and he has a dagger protruding from.
His back who stabbed him in the VAT. A poor, defensive old man.
And he looks up and he says, bill, take care of the shop. And lets out a last deep breath. Dies.
What?
No.
And with that, we will leave that at a massive cliffhanger to lead us into season two.
And I'm going to have some real daddy issues.