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The Medusa's Cascade
Collateral Damage - Trust in Her
We start with the group after their encounter with Shankise and his grim warning. The group meets to decide how to move forward, and Zechs suggests rushing through to widen the gap between the party and their overseers. The idea being that if they can widen the gap, it would give them time to reach Glad's boon and go the long way around the treants to avoid it without raising too much suspicion. It's not an impossible idea, though it wouldn't be easy by any means, as the group will be running at full speed with Zechs leading the way and the group following closely in tow. While it happened as planned, we encountered minor difficulties that could have become major hurdles without the group's teamwork.
Upon finishing their trek, they find a camp and ask Hoshino to provide a haven for the night so they can rest in peace, given the environment and their previous encounters. It's not quite as lavish as their last stay in the Magnificent Mansion, but it's far better than the alternative, and for that, they're grateful. After some food, conversation, and rest, we see Glad in a dream where she is shown the location of The Daughter of the Vine. The morning comes, and with a full night of stressless sleep, the party feels a wave of exhaustion lifted for them. With everyone but Shanks downstairs for breakfast, Zechs takes it upon himself to check in on him. To no one's surprise, he's been burning the midnight oil and has been tinkering with some of the tools in his kit. First showing Zechs the dismantled "bombs away" and telling Duo he's made him a frag grenade he can take into combat in the future. This gets Zechs' wheels turning, and he informs Shanks that he'll work with him and Salix on some new toys moving forward. After a brief discussion on death, morality, and the judgment of the many for the sins of some, they move forward with the plan to have Shanks scout.
While the next leg of the journey isn't a sprint, as it was the previous day, it is still quite the trek, and the land is showing its feywild nature with every step. There are some combined efforts of stealth and utilizing everyone's kits to help them traverse the terrain, and it shows just how far the group has come, not only individually but as a team as well. All this gets them through the treants' area and to the supposed location of the temple. Eventually coming up to a lake with water that almost looks like glass, still and serene. The group takes the time to rest and gather themselves.
There's so much happening, and that's where we pick up…
Find out what happens next in this episode of the Medusa’s Cascade: Collateral Damage!
Theme Music is written and performed by Efflorescence
Mixed by Thomas Lapierre III
Title Card by Pierce Graphics
Check out the show at themedusascascade.com
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1. Collateral Damage - Nine Strangers Walk into a Tavern
02:46:26||Season 1, Ep. 1The Barovia Job Ch. 1The adventure began with everyone receiving a mysterious card: a medusa’s head on one side and a number on the other. As each of them read the card, they were instantaneously transported to an open field with a small building sitting in the middle of it. Unsure of where they were and who they were with, the group cautiously made their way to the building, which ironically (or not, whichever you prefer), was a tavern. No name emblazoned the outside of the tavern, only a circular wooden sign that was a replica of the medusa’s head on the card they’d all received. They make their way in and are greeted first by a Half-Orc and then by a man who claims to be the owner of the tavern and the one who sent them the cards. He went on to explain that he was The Journeyman and was a contractor of sorts. He had a job that he felt the group was the right fit for. After many questions and insight checks later, they are told that the number on the cards they were sent is the sum they will be paid if they complete their mission. Their mission: take the path through the forest to the village on the other side. Simple enough, right? Yeah, not so much. After an arduous battle with some zombies (a sign of things to come), they vanquished their foes and rested for the evening, and that is where we pick up our adventure...Background Music by Prod. RiddimanTheme Music written and performed by Gaetano Semilia Mixed by Thomas Lapierre III Title Card by Pierce GraphicsCheck out the show at themedusascascade.com
2. Collateral Damage - A Light in the Mists
02:56:11||Season 1, Ep. 2The Barovia Job Ch. 2In the previous session our party awoke in the woods after having defeated a small enclave of zombies. They made their way down the wooded path to the town on the other side of the forest. As they walked into town, they noticed a peculiar sight: the tavern that they had embarked on the day before had somehow traveled to the other side of the forest. The majority of the party went to the tavern with Kaleb and Galadloriel made their way to the temple in the center of town, where they met the Goliath Paladin Galahad. Galahad joined Kaleb and Glad at the tavern where the group again met the enigmatic Journeyman and a new ally, Attros the Kenku Artificer. A long conversation was had between the group and the Journeyman, where he tried to assuage everyone’s doubts. After some success, the group set off to the apothecary and blacksmith for supplies required for their travel to Barovia. The party made their way through the mists of the forest and was ambushed by yet another horde of zombies. After some battle, they successfully defeated their foes and continued until they happened upon a Vistani camp in the middle of the forest. There was a rocky start to their stay there, but the tension soon lessened, and they were invited into the large tent in the camp to speak to the matriarch of the camp. There, they were given a tarot card reading in which the path to success was laid out for them, albeit cryptically. Here is where things went sideways. Kyver decided to rob the camp while everyone slept. He was successful to a point until his cloak caught on a stray nail and he face planted, scattering the objects of his plunder all on the ground while simultaneously waking the entire camp. There was to be a fight between the party and the Vistani until Attros came to the rescue with a set of manacles and a natural 20 in persuasion to let the party leave the camp with their lives. This is where we pick up the adventure...Background Music by Prod. Riddiman, Dox, Sword Coast Soundscapes, and Epic JourneyTheme Music written and performed by Gaetano Semilia Mixed by Thomas Lapierre III Title Card by Pierce GraphicsCheck out the show at themedusascascade.com
3. Collateral Damage - The Black Cat
02:34:16||Season 1, Ep. 3The Barovia Job Ch. 3Collateral Damage searches for answers in the village of Barovia and finds more than what they bargained for.Background Music by Prod. Riddiman, Sword Coast Soundscapes, and Epic JourneyTheme Music written and performed by Gaetano Semilia Mixed by Thomas Lapierre III Title Card by Pierce GraphicsCheck out the show at themedusascascade.com
4. Collateral Damage - The House of Nope
02:15:15||Season 1, Ep. 4The Barovia Job Ch. 4Collateral Damage bargains with ghost children and fights their way through the basement of the house that screams "Nope". Background Music by Prod. Riddiman, Sword Coast Soundscapes, and Epic JourneyTheme Music written and performed by Gaetano Semilia Mixed by Thomas Lapierre III Title Card by Pierce GraphicsCheck out the show at themedusascascade.com
5. Collateral Damage - Curiosity Can Kill
02:33:40||Season 1, Ep. 5The Barovia Job Ch. 5Collateral Damage continues to search through the basement of the ghostly building that houses the child specters, Rose and Thorn. Searching for the chanting turns into a dangerous game of "Will I Regret Touching This?"Background Music by Prod. Riddiman and Sword Coast SoundscapesTheme Music written and performed by Gaetano Semilia Mixed by Thomas Lapierre III Title Card by Pierce GraphicsCheck out the show at themedusascascade.com
6. Collateral Damage - Monsters in the Basement
02:24:58||Season 1, Ep. 6The Barovia Job Ch. 6Collateral Damage regroups after the two-pronged battle in the first basement level of the Death House and makes their way further down towards the continuous chanting. Things are not as they seem...Background Music by Prod. Riddiman and Sword Coast SoundscapesTheme Music written and performed by Gaetano Semilia Mixed by Thomas Lapierre III Title Card by Pierce GraphicsCheck out the show at themedusascascade.com
7. Collateral Damage - Escapes and Explanations
02:54:18||Season 1, Ep. 7The Barovia Job Ch. 7The party has defeated the monsters in the basement; now they need to get out of the Death House. Unfortunately, that's easier said than done.Background Music by Prod. Riddiman and Sword Coast Soundscapes Theme Music written and performed by Gaetano Semilia Mixed by Thomas Lapierre III Title Card by Pierce GraphicsCheck out the show at themedusascascade.com
8. Collateral Damage - Deja-vu
03:10:31||Season 1, Ep. 8The Barovia Job Ch. 8Collateral Damage makes their way to the Bergomeister's Manor to have a meeting, but things in Barovia are never as simple as they seem...Background Music by Prod. Riddiman, Sword Coast Soundscapes, James Webster, and Autumn CozyTheme Music written and performed by Gaetano Semilia Mixed by Thomas Lapierre III Title Card by Pierce GraphicsCheck out the show at themedusascascade.com
9. Collateral Damage - One Job
02:38:51||Season 1, Ep. 9The Barovia Job Ch. 9Collateral Damage runs into people they thought they wouldn't see again and then goes from one confrontation to another... in quick succession.Background Music by Prod. Riddiman, Syrinscape, and Michael Ghelfi (YouTube and Patreon)Theme Music written and performed by Gaetano Semilia Mixed by Thomas Lapierre III Title Card by Pierce GraphicsCheck out the show at themedusascascade.com