Thread by @friede

Evening. We’ve reached the end of @dimension20show’s Ravening War — more years covered in narrative time than there are episodes. How do you land a prequel without disturbing the timeline or sacrificing suspense? These players know.

My notes in an hour. #RaveningWarSpoilers

Shirt is, of course, from the upcoming #DesiQuest — one of several places you’ll be able to get your next fix of @sweeetanj this summer, alongside the astonishing @ThatBronzeGirl, sunny @OmarNajam, witty @sandeepparikh, & whip smart @rekhalshankar.

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"The Heart of the World"
Runtime tonight: 2 hours, 22 minutes.

Content Warnings:
Flashing lights
Misophonia

#RaveningWarSpoilers

The Scrumptious Scountrels are shoulder to shoulder as we start. Lou has been ... chewing... erasers?

Recap: in the mycelium network that was convinced to work with the FDA in their plan to keep the Hungry One at bay.

"you may have your own unique ideas"

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Note: that last phrase is one implied by Mercer in his own show, but never said explicitly.

We get an extensive description of what is here: echoes of what is above, decomposing. At the center of this, a massive pulsing mass: The Heart of the World.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Sanctus Putris figures swarm, as the Scoundrels are ushered to the Archbishop, grinning, a stone biscuit rolling to close them in.

On her staff: an alien metal has gathered, haloed, terrifying.

We then see Sen Ariana, & a 10-12ft Sapophrian -- the Elder.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Almost 10 minutes in, we get the prompt for player action: Karna shoves Amangeaux down to kneel, Deli moved too.

Brennan has gone Full Late Play Lear all over Lou.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Amangeaux "explains" their "exploration"

The Archbishop thought their "dalliances" had come to again -- she is "grateful" for their labor, & many before & since, who have "help save them all"

#RaveningWarSpoilers

"Do we end it one way or another?" asks R.
"There is no room for discretion or stealth" replies Karna.

He subtle spells casts Shatter & Matt calls for the battle map, bright as we pan across with glowing lights & crystalline forms, soft with mold.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

20 points of damage on the die, halved since the targets make the save.

The Shatter spell is a MASSIVE detonation bursts across the chamber. We get closeup of the opponents turn to look.

"Well that was ... exciting"

Initiative begins: 23 for Raphaniel.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Closeup on Raphaniel: "everything has come down to this"

We then get a vision of his described "tunnel vision" as he aims another upcast Shatter...

But nope -- Counterspell.

Unsettling Words does pop off, to fuck her next save -6.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

We zoom in on Colin then cut to his sheet as he Dashes & attacks, adding Sneak Attack. -15 damage, plus fails the save to take more wounding damage.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

We zoom up to the Archbishop, watching her turn to the Heart, which we then see from above.

She begins to chant. Deus-Pa'Zhul...

(we cut to Brennan laughing in horror)

Quiche then steps up: there are cheers as he arrives (we see him), despite his threat.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

He crits on Amangeaux, who Uncanny Dodges, & Karna SilveryBarbs. Both his strikes hit, but nowhere near what they could have been. -8.

We see the minis closeup in skirmish, moving.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

We cut to Karna in a pan then her sheet as she checks in on Raphaniel, their mental connection... messy. She goes invisible, then Dashes towards the Archbishop.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

We pan on Deli (then also sheet), eyes on Sen Gemelli. He asks when they last spoke. Matt defers to her. Her reply to him was curt, short, "maybe we can... have a coffee"

He also confirms he knows of Karna's work with her & her entanglements.

"They fuckin"

#RaveningWarSpoilers

He confronts her: "I saved myself"
("This guy's a virgin?")

"You LIED" (intensity tips over into giggles as even Lou breaks)

Deli then moves, throwing Detriter, his spear -- as Brennan notes, a reckless move. He Rages.

He hits. -10. ("better than none!")

#RaveningWarSpoilers

We watch its movement as it hit her.

She almost retorts, then looks confused, turning to look at the chanting.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Amangeaux disengages then moves up as far as she can, shooting at the Archbishop. 11 misses (we watch it move towards the Heart)

She moves to protect Raphaniel.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

The Elder speaks -- those infected by Spores can understand:

"It must be done, all must be sundered, the cycle broken, Calorum must be sundered"

Spore radiate out.

We are zoomed in on the mini as smoke emits around it.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

-9 poison & Poisoned. Raphaniel loses concentration on Heroism.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

The other FDA members' turn.

Sen Ariana is confused -- this wasn't the plan!

We hear more of the Archbishop's chant: "the teeth come and take everything to nothing"

She runs to shake the Archbishop, still chanting, arms raised, the metal growing.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Ariana stabs the Archbishop -8, who still chants.

Ariana steps back, nervously, looking haunted.

Another FDA member tries to stab Colin (NAT 1), another rushes up to Raphaniel (NAT 2). Ooop.

We get some nice dodge from Zac & Brennan.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

The Sephorans charge.

One crits on Raphaniel, who SBarbs, so it becomes a CritFail. Another hits Amangeaux, who also SBarbs to a CritFail.

"Burn the spells slots quickly" sings Matt.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

The Mycelium pulses, the party feeling confusion, sadness, disappointment -- the Heart confused as we pan across the board towards it.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Raphaniel get an internal monologue of the smoothie of unity, "what a fool I was, the teeth are not there to unite us"

Deus Pa'Zhul -- Disposal, DUH.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

"What is food, if never on is fed, when with strange disposals even death lies dead?"

(Anjali's mouth is WIDE, Matt does a chef's kiss then heart hands, Aabria: "it's cool when GMs & other GMs play TTRPGs, y'know?"

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Then Brennan says "disposal" again and screams "NOOOOO" then looks to Amangeaux, letting the steel clatter to the floor. "One more thing that hasn't chosen me.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Back to back with her, he says "You must promise me you will survive this. I am so glad that you are as devious as I could have hoped. Blessings for your child. I thought I had robbed that from you"

Tears spring to her eyes, at a loss.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

"A sachet of tea is what they left on my windowsill & I want you to know, Lady Amangeaux, I saw to poisoning your late husband as many times as I could, & I never meant for it to rob you of a day of joy."

#RaveningWarSpoilers

"So I am glad you took those matters into your own hands."

Amangeaux stammers. "This is what happens"

She looks at these guys "now now it's gotta be NOW?"

"It's gotta be now 'cause I'm about to FLIP OUT" Raphaniel replies.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

He Cunning Action Dashes, speaking in the name of the Bulb towards the Heard, the Elder wincing in the light of the Shard in his hand.

Karna pushes him as he passes to keep him going.

We pan up as he holds it to the Heart, the light of the Sun frightful.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

The Archbishop turns to crane her head to Raphaniel.

"You've always been chosen, and there's still time to join us"

Insight: 22.

Nothing but honesty, we're told, as we cut between her mini & his.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

"You've carried the seed this whole time & you've been brought here at the right moment" Matt says.

Join them all in "resplendent annihilation"

Knowing it an honest answer, his lip trembles

"Don't leave me" Amangeaux.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

"I'm so sorry to disappoint, but hopefully you'll understand why"

"You had your chance. I'm no one's pawn!"

He jumps into the mycelium, Shard in hand (we watch his mini soar)

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Thousands of Saphorians can be heard, screaming, in the tunnels.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Colin Switches targets, disengaging then running to the Senator. -28 damage all in.

She stumbles, collapses, then rises again, still taller.
(we watch her mini fall & rise again)

She laughs. "He's coming"

Then she Hulks the fuck out.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Plus Wolverine-ing -- blades from her fingertips. We watch her mini become a walking disposal.

"OH NO" yells Brennan.

"This is a character that was in my backstory! There's a mini with a bunch of bad teeth?"

#RaveningWarSpoilers

The ground begins to shake as we pan across the battle map, where similar disposals are now across the floor.

Quiche is horrified on his turn -- but not for long as he is drawn into the blades (we watch as the camera spins from above)

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Karna goes for the Archbishop, hitting on 25 with Green Flame Blade. Reaper's ability provokes a CON save. She fails that too -- -40 to "The Avatar of Deaus Pa'Zuul"

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Her wound gushes with dark black ichor.

Her attack also catches the Senator "cos she can go fuck herself" plus Wails from the Grave on top.

"I love 40 points of religious retribution & 8 points of petty" -- Brennan

"It's all part of a balanced breakfast"

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Deli tries to get a sense of what the folks around feel about this (NAT 20) -- they are freaking the fuck out, every one. Except the Elder.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Deli goes to grab his spear, then runs to the Avatar.

("I don't know how we slipped so smoothly into the Avatar at table" quips Brennan)

Flanked by his old friend & the woman he wanted to be slammed down by, plus the one who's been trying to slam him...

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Even in this he's effective: -35 damages in 3 strikes, as we watch a flash of the minis. We get more uncanny Avatar descriptions.

He uses Mobile to step back.

The Avatar then uses a Legendary Action: "Pull of the Void Teeth"

@quiddie yells "NO!"

#RaveningWarSpoilers

@quiddie "I don't like when Matt says the name of things" agrees Lou, adding "Allright, and they're gonna use Reverse Ultimatum... and you're like 'I've been playing this game for years I've never heard of that. I have no context!'"

#RaveningWarSpoilers

STR save is aided by Pro Bono Rules Lawyer Mulligan, avoiding being pulled into its blades.

"Oh I don't like that it has a set up Legendary Action" moans Brennan, wiping his face, smiling.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Amangeaux starts with a save vs. a floor disposal, using Sbarbs advantage. 17 is enough to withstand.

She disengages & runs ahead & shoots: 22 (rolled into Zac's tray) hits. -20 in her tray.

We see her arrow sink into the Avatar's eye. Ew, @RichardHPerry

#RaveningWarSpoilers

The Avatar's Void Steel Claw then hits Colin: -16 slashing.

The Elder then moves up
("Elder, who's team are you on dawg?")

"We have been here too long. All must be rend to nothing"

#RaveningWarSpoilers

He unleashes another cloud of spores. Deli & Colin make the save, avoding the stunning hallucinatory spores, but the Senator is caught, unmoving.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

An FDA member is is whirled into a disposal, as Lou does a little dance & Brennan urges him on.

("Do you think Raphaniel's in there going, 'I saved the day? I got this, don't worry'?" asks Zac)

#RaveningWarSpoilers

It tries to escape, grinding.

Saprophrians try to get by it: one is ground up utterly,

We get another top-down spin transformation of a mini into mush.

Another tries to flee, jumping into the rot to hide as it does so.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

The Avatar then uses its last Legendary Action: Shift Disposal.

"NOOOOO" they all scream.
("Fuck you" can be marked off your bingo card)

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Raphaniel, meanwhile, feels a warm sense of belonging, welcome. "Please, help" -- it fears the distruction of its people.

He tries to commune with it, Shard in his clasped hands to block its light, opening his mind entirely, all his nightmares.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

"To the best of my knowledge, the creatures that your Elder has allowed into the Heart of your kingdom have come here to destroy you, & everything." The god they worship is worse, more alien & cruel than the Hungry One itself."

He opens this to Karna too.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

"Better that a soul should feed someone than be thrown away"

(@quiddie breathes out, wincing)

#RaveningWarSpoilers

His memories blend & bleed with the Heart's -- not just a society, the third part of the cycle of Calorum. "The mycelium is what beings the cycle back between the two. It is through this space that life can subsist"

#RaveningWarSpoilers

In this moment "you understand more than probably anybody in the history of Calorum's existence"

#RaveningWarSpoilers

"what all this might mean"

[I continue to be fascinated about how @matthewmercer creates worlds where it seems almost possible have full ontological knowledge, then pulls back with a phrase, a hedge]

#RaveningWarSpoilers

But I have to pause to say that, because the scene shifts quickly to Brennan rolling Persuasion. Enhance Ability helps him roll high.

He is connected to the land, everything. Spores release.

He's unlocked Lair Actions for the Mycelium to benefit the party.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

He stays where he is, connected, though he takes some poison damage at the start of his turn. But his successful check staves that off.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Bonus: he reaches out to Karna with the last Bardic Inspo. "If all we ever manage to do is keep this thing out of our world, we will have done more than we imagined"

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Colin misses twice, poison coursing through his body. Second Wind gets him +7.

"This is a pretty good turn"

#RaveningWarSpoilers

The Avatar has a Legendary Action: Devour the Flesh

("what are these powers" Lou stage-whispers to Brennan, smiling "nowhere in the PHB. Nowhere")

It hits Deli.

"Silvery Barbs" whispers Karna. NAT1!
("the power of love") she gives him advantage too.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Bonus Action: Create Disposal -- now half the battlefield is blades & shadow.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

The Mycelium has a Legendary Action: Restore Fungus, as a new figure emerges to help. It attacks the Avatar.

The Dome grows darker, the Avatar beginning to sink in their heads, causing their vision to blur, twist.

We then see Quiche annihilated. OOOF.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Karna has used almost all the gifts of the Hungry One, pulls out her Green Flame Blade. Dirty 20 hits. Raph's Bardic can be used as damage dice on a spell. -17.

Two Legendaries in response as it turns to pull her in.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

20 hhits, but she uses her last slot on Silvery Barbs.

We watch her mini shake. Then the second attack pulls her in -- we see it.

"This is quite bad"

-35 piercing before she can pull herself out (we see her emerge)

#RaveningWarSpoilers

A warmth appears on Deli's face that hasn't been seen in a long time -- then rage as he sees Karna attacked

"Leave her!"

Goading Attack to the Avatar. -16 damage.

He then goes to grapple the Elder & force it into the blades. It fails the contest.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

They are on the lip of one of the disposals, equally in jeopardy.

Next hit: 26 on a Pushing attack. STR save -- it fails.

-10 damage, & he pushes him into the "fucking disposal"

We watch his mini go in, then spin...

#RaveningWarSpoilers

"I will live to get slammed down big style"

#RaveningWarSpoilers

@quiddie has a cheeky request. Can she send her SBarbs advantage to Raphaniel, with every memory of interaction they've ever had, every "weird desire for paternal figure" along with it.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

The Elder, massive, shakes the room as he resists.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Amangeaux makes a save against a nearby disposal, then runs to attack the Avatar. Anjali hurls her dice away from the table when she misses, even with flanking advantage.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

The Avatar Shifts Disposal towards her.

The Elder then takes -26 damage before it can muscle out.

"I'm gonna push it back in" mutters Lou.

Another FDA bites the dust, then a Saprophrian warrior is pulled in. Another resists.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

An FDA member gets to the biscuit door, but NAT1 fails to open it.

Ariana has disadvantage on the save, & is pulled into the disposal, without a sound. She comes back to awareness, look to Deli with confusion, then we see her spin into oblivion.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Raph gives some sex ed belated advice "I think you should have a first time not with someone in a cult"

When Karna objects on the group chat, he corrects: "you want to pop your cherry with someone in a RAD cult"

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Raphaniel tries to pump Cure Wounds to trigger the good Legendary Actions.

Here at the end of things, he's healing something.

Another newly formed fungus warrior appears.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Raphaniel gets more lore/motivation dump from Team Mycelium. He communicates to them via the network

"you will have the ability to eat well, but not at this cost" -- the original plan "is the ruin of your people made manifest"

#RaveningWarSpoilers

We cut to a tight closeup of a new fungus warrior near Karna.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Colin runs screaming in to attack the Avatar. -17 damage, CON save (it makes it)

"I have to keep running away"

It's in the tug of the disposal, so Colin runs back to where he was. "Everybody do this"

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Colin resists the poison.

The Mycelium releases Regenerative Spores -- everyone in the group regains +6 HP

#RaveningWarSpoilers

The Avatar goes for Karna (Devour the Flesh). 24 hits -- she goes to Silvery Barbs but Amangeaux beats her to it. 25, alas.

"The attempt was noble"

"Jesus" Matt mutters
"I'm going to die" squeaks Aabria.
-38 slashing. 37 HP.

"No fucking way"

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Matt lets Aabria describe Karna's final moments as we cut to Lou & Brennan clutching one another, Anjali agape.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

"She smiles, because she died 9 years ago. All of this was bonus. The Hungry One may be a devil, but how bad could he be? Because I got to be here, I got to know friendship, & love, & trust, & that can't be bad."

#RaveningWarSpoilers

"And her last look is over to Deli & then she just gives up"

We see this from several angles.

Delis sees the last smile & look before she vanishes into the mouth.

A spatter of very realistic red plant matter across Deli & the field as the metal clashes.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

"and she is gone forever"

We cut to @quiddie, hands framing her face. "It be that way sometimes"

"It's fine, this is a very fun game, I love playing joke things on Dimension 20"

#RaveningWarSpoilers

The disposal shifts, hit by a new fungus warrior. It Shifts Disposal into the center of the Mycelium Heart -- and thus Raphaniel.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Deli, having seen Karna "murked" has no past or future, only this moment. "This thing has to die"

He screams & runs to the Avatar, spear drawn, stabbing.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

It in turn tries to Devour the Flesh on Deli. NAT20

NOPE: adamantine armor is immune to crits!

"You can just roll that normal my guy"

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Still: -40, halved to -20. Barbarian!

"You can't put a full pastrami sandwich in the disposal, ask any plumber!"

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Amangeaux, under major stress, rolls a NAT20

"THE FUCK YOU WILL"
(no time for fancy)

She runs & tries to attack. She hits!

(Meanwhile, Lou leans over to Aabria: "YOU DIED" "I'm DONE" as Brennan recounts the double-halving by Deli)

#RaveningWarSpoilers

"You made a bad thing, Matt."
"This is because I made a ghost pepper joke one time"

#RaveningWarSpoilers

21 damage from Amangeaux, then disengage.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

The Elder steps forward into the fray, releasing poisonous spores. CON saves.

"I'm avenging the person I was gonna lose my virginity to"
"oh God I died a VIRGIN"
"We're all gonna die virgins here, I'm afraid."

#RaveningWarSpoilers

The Avatar is immune. It do be mostly blades.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Another warrior bites the dust.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Raphaniel has a STR save to make. 12 on DC 14.

(Lou collapses on the floor, then hides behind Brennan in a bear hug)

-24 damage -- brings him to 0.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Brennan raises his hands wide.

"I've connected to the first place that ever felt like home. I've spent my life lying, torturing, ruining, all to help people that lied to my face. I have been a fool & a wretch, & wasted my life."

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Raphaniel sinks into the teeth: "my mind & heart were garbage. Let them be disposed. But let my body serve the only warmth I have ever known."

#RaveningWarSpoilers

(the giggles begin)
"Let my bones be as eggshells that they may calcify & glue. Let my muscle be coffee grounds to wear down & grind. Let me serve as rice to expand in the water of my blood, let it rupture in the name of the Bul---"

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Brennan shakes as we cut to the spinning disposal.

Matt looks to Brennan. "In an odd way, the thing that always haunted you as the eventuality you would meet also delivered you to be the closest you've ever been to anything that mattered."

#RaveningWarSpoilers

We cut to Brennan slowly shaking again, eyes wide, arms up.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Colin screams, then screams higher, as the table laughs in catharsis.

Rule of threes: one more scream before Deli yells, "Colin, steel yourself!"

"THIS IS ME STEELING MYSELF!"

#RaveningWarSpoilers

"I have to hit it"

Crying, scared, tries to look at Deli. "We have to, we just have to"

He disengages as Brennan in turn stands behind Lou, shaking his shoulders, "you got it get it in there"

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Colin flanks the Avatar "with the person that chose you from obscurity, & for a number of years, kept you by his side"

(we cut to Lou smiling, looking across the table)

#RaveningWarSpoilers

In this moment, this necessity, the kinship puts them both at the charge.

"As the piss trickles down his legs..."

15 just misses. 25 hits! Action Surge: 17 hits. Plus Sneak Attack.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Deli calls him Skald, Aabria notes it's been like 3 seconds since Karna died, & Lou replies smoothly that in her last moments he thought of her only as Karna. Nice save.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

25, plus Push attack -- another 15.

"Sir Colin Provolone, how do you want to do this?"
(Table cheers)

#RaveningWarSpoilers

"Crying, pissing himself, shaking, remembers the people he shared this journey with, even if they weren't necessarily... his best friends, pulls up his sword shaking, nods to Deli, misses, hits, hits again, then launches it into the disposal teeth..."

#RaveningWarSpoilers

We see the spinning of the disposal as teeth upon teeth grind, sparks flashing.

We cut to the pale clouds of the Heart.

The Elder expires, its body drying, purpose unfulfilled.

Amangeaux drops to her knees, crying out to Karna & Raphaniel with her mind.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Deli walks up to Colin.

"Did we do it?"
"I think we avoided ONE disaster..."

Deli tries to see if the fungal release will still occur.

One surefire way to check...

Deli touches the glowing Mycelium.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Gratitude, understanding floods him. It begins to understand the complexity of emotions of the surface dwellers. It begins to subside. He can hear the sounds of the battle above as they withdraw, tunnels collapsing behind.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

He thinks of Amangeaux & her child, reunited, asking the Mycelium to let them go.

A paradox: it sees their complexity, but also the need for secrecy.

Flashes of the FDA, killed by the Sapophrians to preserve their silence.

"Can you keep a secret?"

#RaveningWarSpoilers

He tries to convey that yes they can.

Amangeaux, in the mental group chat, begins to laugh, given how many have died to keep her secret -- including the father of her child.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Group Persuasion Check: not a VERY high DC, given what they've done, but is it stronger than the good of its people?

(check off that on your bingo card)

A: 25
C: 5... plus CHA, so 3
D: NAT1, so 8

Sadness, eternal protectiveness.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

They understand now if they don't run now, they'll never see the Bulb's light again.

The race is on, as the music becomes intense strings & the group rushes to the stone scone.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

STR check of 27 opens the stone as the spores move towards them.

"JUST RUN"

Spores emerge from all around them as they flee, Sapophrians confused, curious, then a pulse of purple flash in their eyes.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

They try to "Indiana Jones that shit" as Deli tries to tackle those in their way. He charges through them, but it slows him down.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

The two Rogues can move very fast, especially Colin. Colin double backs to flank Deli. CON save for Deli gives him -13 poison, as he coughs.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Do they take their time or book it across the bridge?

Book it: DEX saves ensure. Colin & Amangeaux make the save as Deli trips, then takes a NAT1 save with more poison damage. He pulls himself back up.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

More CON saves for Deli: another -12 poison, his lungs on fire, numbness climbing.

Matt luxuriates in this as Lou reaches to Brennan.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

The tunnel they came through collapsed. Amangeaux kneels to the wee mushroom, beaming a mental image of them running out, her yearning to hold her child.

Persuasion: 13. "isn't so bad"

#RaveningWarSpoilers

It points to a secondary tunnel, collapsed too but in that direction is their best bet.

Deli doubles back to Colin. Poison to both.

"Colin you have to get out of here"
"Shut the fuck up"

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Amangeaux gets to the entrance blocked, & Deli charges at it as explosions sound behind them.

22 hits on a DC20. The rocks give way, the surface visible just as the poison follows them.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

The Bulblight is blinding.

Deli takes 9 damage & is down to 0 as they make it.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

"We did it, Deli we..."

#RaveningWarSpoilers

Medicine check with help & healing kit = 20.

They can staunch the toxins in his system, & stabilize him.

She casts False Life on all of them. +10 Temp HP

#RaveningWarSpoilers

The tunnel recollapses, a sinkhole in the Ceresian field.

As they process what has happened, as Deli comes back to consciousness, they hear distant horns of victory in Pan Granos, black smoke, cheers.

"The battle is over, & with that, the Ravening War."

#RaveningWarSpoilers

The music changes to a piano as Matt shifts to the Epilogue.

They find out in the time that follows of the death of Gen Rococoa, Gustavo Uvano firing a legendary arrow into Imperator Focaccia, the final beat that calls the end to that chapter.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

The victorious alliance estambishes a future for Calosum that will ensure unity between the fractured lands. The Concord is forged, Uvano the first Concordant Emperor, to guide from the soon to be finished Great Pyramid of Food in Comida.

#RaveningWarSpoilers

The Concord is performed under the Bulbian Oath, expanding the Bulbian Church's reach far beyond Vegetania, making it the de facto Calorum religion. The Pax Calorum bolsters the Concord.

But those are just above board politics.

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Matt turns to Lou. What does Deli do?

He spends some time with Colin, but cannot resolve the feelings he had of his willingness, excitement of being a pawn. He fears returning to Carn or the world he knew would inevitably lead him to that space again.

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One day he slips away, following in his mother's footsteps, north to be an Outlander & watch the Bulb rise over the red steppes of the Meatlands, until the end of his days.

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Colin renounces all titles ("Deli's cool with it") & spends time to ensure Sanctus Putris is no more, no more pockets.

It takes a few years to realize it was not a monolith. There are pockets that subsist. He can choose to spend his days hunting.

He does.

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Amangeaux is dying from guilt even more. She doesn't belong here. Survivor guilt. She desperately wants to disappear -- no good for anyone.

She remembers the safehouse. She goes back to Karna's safehouse, finds her way in.

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She looks for anything that would be useful.

"she might be able to change things from the inside"

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Karna struggled to keep track of everything because she was young. Her notes are everywhere, in fine onion vellum, in chicken scratch. A list, ledgers, balances, all secrets not yet paid down. Leverage.

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Amangeaux looks for Van Pinnonoir -- no balance attached to the name but it is scrawled, untethered, an early work. Her name is nowhere near it.

She tears that part out, burns it, & takes the rest to Uvano.

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She asks to be his spymaster.

All eyes on him, no eyes on her, he accepts. She learns to disguise herself, every day she talks to Karna in the morning, & again at night.

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Karna, "what echoes of impact have you left in the world beyond the radical alteration of the once-queen?"

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She left a letter on Deli's bed before they went to the tent on the last battle.

"My chief, baseline trust, the only secret I have left is that I love you, & I'm not brave enough to say it to your face. But if you call, I will come, always. Thank you."

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"Thank you for your friendship, thank you for your trust, & thank you for giving me something to believe in beyond the horrifying inevitability of the Hungry One's embrace."

It's signed, for the 1st time ever with a title, Skald Karna Solara of Scoville.

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Deli watches the Bulb rise over the free northlands.

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Matt asks Brennan what happened to his papers, & what echoes has he left in the world in his wake?

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"There are very little truths that Raphaniel left in this world. Most of his scrawlings are the strategizing of a man driven to the brink of fanaticism & zealotry by spite & spite alone."

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"What he realized in the final moments of his life was greater than all of his vast decades put together. "

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"There seems to be a running theme in Calorum of supposedly holy men having incredible insight into the workings of the cosmos in the last seconds of their life."

(Brennan looks to Zac as the table laughs. "I'll say")

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"One of the last moments of terror Raphaniel feels as he is disposed of is knowing the hollowness of the vision of the world laid out in his scrawlings about the eschatology of the church, about the ending of the world, about the cosmos that is inaccurate."

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"and inaccurate in his depictions of what is to come. So the echo that he leaves, first & foremost, is as Archbishop Colliflour has vanished overnight..."

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"his successor, the Archbishop Greenhold, a young Belizabeth Brassica, discovers his writings on the Ramsian Doctrine, on the Prophidian Hersey, & also his writings on the threat posed by the Santcus Putris..."

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"which in addition to having been excoriated by the Saprophites underneath Pangranos & haveing powerful numbers of their order hollowed out, now also has an incredibly dangerous cheese knight hunting them from the shadows."

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"So the Sanctus Putris is on the outs, & Belizabeth Brassica is ascendant with the strength of those writings & she ... also discovers the scrolls of genealogy in Raphaniel's study."

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"All of those maps & plans that made a young Raphaniel realize that if Arthur Cardoon never had an heir, that it would likely mean war."

The strings pick up, the screen turns to wide aspect via letterboxing, we cut to the map as it zooms on Candia.

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We then hear Matt speak of the time of great peace, as we see shots of the battlemaps from A Crown of Candy.

We see flashes of Amethar Rocks, of fire, as we pivot from the blues of TRW to the pinks of ACOC before returning,

"But that's another story."

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Matt ends with "I love you very much, thank you."
Cast applause & cheers, Brennan fist pumps, then we cut to credits.

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