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Runtime Break start
4h 07m 1h 19m

Episode 102: Reconciliation

Bell’s Hells, following the path of Ludinus and the Ruby Vanguard into the ruins of Aeor, accompanied by Essek Thelyss (somebody who had been there a handful of times).
You delved below and into the darkness that had taken the Vanguard and Ludinus’ interest in the ruins, Dominox, a grand demon from lore long ago.
You had gone through and had suffered terrible visions from this demon in proximity to the engine that he still clung to, the Soul Anchor holding him present.
You met a new figure, Braius, a minotaur revealed to have been a worshipper of the Lord of Hells. Also Teven Klask, a devilish entity that has been bound with Fearne.
After getting into battle with Dominox, and Ludinus coming in at the last minute to help you defeat this entity (and claiming no aggression or animus towards you). You stopped after defeating the Dominox and he invited you to join him in the chamber beyond, one of the goals of his excursion. Here in this domed, cracked, partially-ruined chamber, you see amongst the rising stairs and statues of Aeorian mages of old, a central dome-like dais. Ludinus pulls from it a sphere of light blue arcane ribbons, an information keeping device of some kind. He tells you this is the Occultus Thalamus, and it is indeed a record keeping device. What he has found with the time spent with it is of utmost importance to Exandria. Ludinus asked you to look into this.
As he activated it, a white light filled your vision and you all experienced within this record (viscerally, as if you were there and amongst them) the tale of these gods, pantheon members of Exandria, who during the height of the Calamity had called a truce because the last great floating city had developed technology that could abjure the gods themselves.
Scared and uncertain, they reincarnated as mortals and infiltrated this city. Seeking information they discovered existence of a device, the Factorum Malleus, that could (in theory) destroy the gods themselves.
In this information-seeking infiltration mission, they found conflict and allyship. They found means to question everything about their presence and what it is they are doing here on this world. When push came to shove, they all still came to agreement, the city had to die and all of the information with it.
So you experienced from the beginning of the arrival of these beings stepping into Aeor, to the final destruction of the city of Aeor as it crashed into Eiselcross. That is what you are aware of through this vision. The prologue and the epilogue are more just for our fun narrative aspect of it as the audience and players. That is what you have experienced as Bell’s Hells. Here as these fragments of information and moments and people and faces and screams and energy whoosh by. Eventually the light fades and here you all stand once more in this cracked and ruined and long forgotten chamber that house the Occultus Thalamus.
As you all take a breath, feeling yourselves back in your bodies, feeling the sensation of your own flesh and touch and the buzzing of energy of the strange, alien, wildly altered magic of these ruins around you.
Ludinus still stands holding his orb, smiling and holding it to his chest.
“Fractured as it may be, the Thalamus gifts us with an unintended boon, a record of divinity’s true face. The face I’ve always known. They wade in their narcissistic fantasy and push forth the decrees for mortal lives. Contradictory among their kin, an endless tapestry of guesses and punishments. Harvesting their faith through reverence and fear, ultimately to redirect the natural flow of the soul to their realms and feed from them.
Here you know what I know is true. The living soul of Exandria borrowed and reshaped to create us as the seeds to their eternal garden of exploitation. We are chained to a cycle of their making against the natural order of life between these realms.
The Eidolons, the natural spirits of the land, they existed before the gods arrived and will exist long after they are gone. They are primordial spiritual life we once were, stolen and industrialized to sustain their self-obsessed tyranny. They funnel the very essence of the world away from it, a sentence of entropy for Exandria in ages to come.
What they did not account for was the strength of our spirit, the drive of our ambition, the desire to learn and grow, make and unmake and make again.
To challenge the mysteries of the universe with the brief time we have.
In their arrogance, they made something more perfect than them, us. In the Age of Arcanum, our enlightenment was revolution, an age where philosophy, art, and the promise of understanding were our purpose. It was their presence, their thrones, their meddling that brought ruin upon our potential. We deserve to inherit the future and they would not dare step aside and let us be greater than they.
I understand it may take some time to truly absorb what they are. What did you see? What do you see them as? What did you experience through this vision?”

Previous Episode: “Downfall: Part Three”

Braius artwork by yghiilra

  • UltragrampsOPMEnglish
    1·
    1 month ago

    You see Laudna in the process of this terrifying banshee nightmare transformation and the spirit of Delilah swirling around and aparrating. Uncertain what is friend and what is foe, what do you do?

    • 01:34:22 ROLL INISH BISH
    • 01:35:58 Dorian’s mini takes battle damage early
    • 01:41:11 Taliesin:“I’m just gonna go, ‘Sit the fuck down, bitch. If you wanna get what the fuck you wanna get, you’re gonna have to work!’ and I am going to rage and I am going to fuckin’–”
      Laura, Marisha, Ashley:“You better Work!”
      Sam:“That sounded like Drag Race.”
    • 01:43:09 Travis:“Jizz?”
    • 01:44:19 Sam:“Eradicator!”
    • 01:47:17 Liam decides to disarm and attempt to petition Laudna to regain control
    • 01:50:48 Dorian:“Oh! A new look! You are so beautiful! The skin care regimen is working!”
    • 01:52:02 Fearne’s clutch Aura of Life cast
    • 01:57:06 Travis:“Clip-clop clip-clop.”
    • 01:58:03 Sam:“From the balls (of the flail) ejects a a hot stream right at the monster’s chest and neck.” casts Sacred Flame
      Matt:“So glad you made a paladin.”
      Ashley:“You’re monochrome, so what color is the–”
      Laura:“Is it with a white flame?”
    • 01:59:25 Braius:(to Dorian)“Don’t sell yourself short. Whatever you’ve been doing is working, too. A chiseled jawline, a symmetric face…you’re a hottie.” Bardic Inspiration
    • 01:59:51 Braius: [moos menacingly]
    • 02:00:56 Chetney brings out The Harp of Valor
    • 02:01:10 Marisha disappears into her shirt kinda like the Popples toys from the 80s and her face beforehand kinda looks like a sneeze is coming.
    • 02:03:29 Laudna rolls high enough to have control for a turn. You will yourself into the body from the Sunken Place, you force your way out into your form (which is still transformed) and you’re just barely holding on for a moment of time.
    • 02:04:50 Travis holds up a mystery card and offers it to Matt as a joke.
    • 02:05:25 Marisha:“I mowing to…” Laudna fights fire with fire in the mental battlefield and transforms into Silas Briarwood (Delilah’s vampire husband based on the Strahd story).
    • 02:06:52 Laura tells Robbie to shut up while he mimes her putting the mystery of rules together in a 3D (Minority Report?) style.
    • 02:07:24 Laudna:“Kill her!”
      Laura:“Oh shit!”
      Ashley:“We’ve given her plenty of chances.”
    • 02:07:47 Sam revisits the Sacred Flame and wants to change it to a white stream of hot force.
      Laura:“Like a white sort of translucent–”
      Liam:“A milky white.”
      Sam:“Describe it more.”
      Ashley:“Like an alfredo sauce?”
    • 02:09:00 Craven Edge
    • 02:09:53 Liam:“Orym is down…Orym being cleaved by Craven Edge was not on my bingo card.”
      Marisha:“Craven Edge got a cameo before Grog did.”
      Travis:“Well one of these has a lot more personality than the other.”
    • 02:11:47 Marisha goes into Perch Mode for the upcoming PvP
    • 02:12:33 Travis:“Nineteen doesn’t hit?”
      Sam:“No.”
      Travis:“You big dick motherfucker.”
    • 02:14:35 Marisha gets clarification on the spectres summoned by Delilah from Sam “Those are your girlfriend’s, don’t cut them down.”
    • 02:16:51 Taliesin:“Shit, fuck, piss, bugger.”
    • 02:24:13 Matt impersonates the slo-mo fight finish as Orym falls again.
    • 02:25:59 Dorian:“We need you. Are you back?”
    • 02:26:33 Travis:“Help it’s again.”
      Taliesin:“Man…still true.”
    • 02:28:01 Fearne makes a blue cylinder of flame like a butane torch.
    • 02:30:07 Sam:“You chopped down the truffula tree with one chop.”
    • 02:31:31 Sam does some neck stretches, flashing his new scar at the camera
    • 02:34:22 Marisha’s mystery card is examined by Robbie and photographed by Sam
    • 02:35:45 Robbie’s excellent Neil impression, “I was joking.”
    • 02:38:03 GOATed
      Taliesin:“Question: Is the goat floating?”
      Matt:“It is. Cuz it’s fun.”
    • 02:38:38 Sam busts out the “Stanley Mug” made from the skin, teeth, and eyes of some guy named Stanley.
    • 02:41:59 Ashley:“Go Chetters.”
    • 02:45:20 Laudna:“Mages of Aeor, help a bitch out!”
    • 02:47:47 Ashley:“But wait, there’s more!” Kermit voice attempt,“Do you need help?”
    • 02:48:10 Taliesin’s excellent Butthead impression, “Uhh.”
    • 02:49:24 Taliesin:“Well that’s- are you sure- okay.” Three out of five stages of grief in one sentence.
    • 02:50:32 Taliesin:“Oh thank god. Okay cuz I just took the- I’m down.” Relentless Rage immediately brings Ashton back up
    • 02:52:14 Fearne:“What the fuck!”
    • 02:52:59 Fearne’s Concentration: Aura of Life (that has already saved unconscious allies) is broken.
    • 02:54:11 The second clattering of many dice prompts Travis to ask, “Wow, really Matt?”
    • 02:56:33 Orym goes down again.
    • 03:01:11 Dunaprancy
    • 03:05:41 Essek:“(bleats)?”
    • 03:07:07 After closely observing Ashley’s Wild Magic roll, Liam scampers off camera
    • 03:07:59 Sam:“Line!”
    • 03:08:48 Robbie prefers “Daymond Form” over Diamond Form
    • 03:10:09 Marisha:“ROLLIES!”
    • 03:11:13 Wild Magic hits Delilah. Marisha rolls a 97 granting maximum damage on the next attack spell and gets up to leave out of shame.
    • 03:12:12 Marisha misspeaks attempting to confirm that Laudna’s turn comes before Delilah’s saying “I do go next” and reacts adorably when told “No you do not.”
    • 03:13:35 Matt:“Now you know.”
      Laura:“And knowing…”
      Matt:“is half the battle.”
    • 03:14:42 Sam hopes for Matt to get a HDYWTDT killing blow with an NPC, as he did previously at The Greek theater show.
    • 03:15:27 Essek casts Reality Break (8th level Conjuration spell bumped up to 9)
    • 03:18:50 Braius gets the HDYWTDT
    • 03:27:16 Fearne casts Identify a few times, “The fuck is this? The fuck is that?”
    • 03:29:28 Robbie:“From a furry to a scaley.”
    • 03:29:52 Liam:“Samuel, what’s your AC?”
      Sam:“It’s low. It’s 20.”
      Robbie:“Grade A beef.”
      Liam:“Grass fed.”
      Sam:“Wagyu.”
    • 03:30:21 Sam’s angry handjob
    • 03:31:03 Essek still getting the goat out of his system.
    • 03:34:48 Essek explains the Soul Anchor’s properties and potential use
    • 03:36:57 Ashton places a piece of FCG on the ground laying it to rest in Aeor, where they were made.
    • 03:40:07 Braius prays to the Lord of Hells for guidance
    • 03:42:06 Liam describes the home shared by Caleb and Essek back in Rexxentrum within the boundaries of the Kryn Dynasty. “…a dedicated corner of the room that leads to the tower. It’s right next to the Sex Room.”
    • 03:46:04 Essek:“Let this be the beginning of a new path to recovery.”
    • 03:47:56 Essek:“Talk amongst yourselves.”
    • 03:48:19 Imogen notices the phallic art of Jester, “Who drew those dicks on the wall?”
    • 03:53:01 Chetney is eating all of Essek’s cookies
    • 03:56:29 Orym seeks fiber in his diet and Dorian might have a nut allergy.
    • 03:59:33 Orym informs Essek that they’ve already met his partner Caleb and also Beauregard.
    • 04:01:37 Braius:“His name’s Chetty. Chetters.”
      Chetney:“King. Chetters.”
      Braius:“Chetters. Delilah. Dorian. Fearne. Laudna, Oprah, and Ash.”
    • 04:03:51 Essek casually locks Braius’ armor in place after having his abilities questioned
    • 04:05:22 Travis:“Don’t worry guys, we got the top minds on it.”
      Liam:“Top. Minds.”