Title: Fantasy High: Junior Year
GM: Brennan Lee Mulligan
Players: Emily Axford (she/her) as Fig Faeth (she/her). Zac Oyama (he/him) as Gorgug Thistlespring (he/him). Siobhan Thompson (she/her) as Adaine Abernant (she/her). Lou Wilson (he/him) as Fabian Seacaster (he/him). Ally Beardsley (they/them) as Kristen Applebees (she/her). Brian Murphy (he/him) as Riz Gukgak (he/him).
Streaming Service: Dropout

If you missed it, catch our review of the first, second, third, and fourth episodes!

The Bad Kids return this week with a showdown in the magical mall. Red spiky energy rushes forth from Cassandra, transforming an old mage into a buff behemoth. Another crimson spike hits a centaur, sending him into a muscular madness. Adaine quickly identifies the spellwork as enchantment, but she’s unable to figure out anything else; however, her quick thinking allows her to get herself and Kristen over to the struggling deity.

The Bad Kids are back in their element. Fighting in the middle of a magical food court, they’ve left behind a mess which may or may not worsen their social standing and strengthen the Rat Grinders’ hold on Aguefort Academy while dealing with the most dire situation.

Fig gives Cassandra bardic inspiration, connecting with the goddexx as fear and anger war within each other within the deity of mystery, night, and magic. Riding on this high, Kristen clears the air between them, freeing the deity from the rage building up inside her. The two manage to begin an open dialogue, but Cassandra hesitates, worried about scaring their cleric.

Things go sideways when Cassandra attempts to help and ends up knocking themself out. In light of this, and the recognition of the Gilear-like circumstances happening, Fig confesses her deal, leading to her and Adaine sharing a vision of her in the armor of pride surrounded by unluckiness causing destruction all around her. Diving forward to save her master, Kalina becomes the red light’s victim after calling out Ragh Barkrock’s name.

The raging magic users attack Cassandra, triggering a change inside them after corrupted Kalina slits the deity’s throat. Kristen leaps onto her god’s back, but a number of unlucky rolls simply turn the fury onto her. Time magic thanks to Conor Counterspell, sending the Bad Kids though a time loop to ten seconds before they went to the Mall. However, it does not change what happened to Cassandra.

When Kristen reaches out, she hears a voice telling her, “She is at my side once more. Do you wish for divinity? You have opened yourself to listen. Do you wish to listen?” When Kristen confirms, the voice promises to provide a master which she deserves before red crackling light dumps the corpse of her old god Yes! at the her feet. Things go from bad to worse. The mall lays in ruin. Rage has consumed Cassandra due to those stars, leading back to them noting, “I thought you were dead” back at the mall before.

Despite their best efforts, the Bad Kids have failed, but at least Fig lands her sick flip.

Highlights

Who doesn’t love it when the DM prepares to absolutely devastate the players? Brennan Lee Mulligan has a particular tell, and none of the cast hesitate to call him out when he gets excited to destroy them by raining carefully choreographed chaos down upon them. Even worse, odds are the players lined up the dominoes themselves. Of course, he then delivers with the haunting line, “I will break in a way that none who loved you will recognize the ruin I have wrought.”

Final Score (4 out of 5 Stars)

Even with so much still hanging over our heroes’ heads, and the reality of what waits for them back at Seacaster Manor, the Bad Kids return to form, managing to pull the series out of the depressing spiral as people start making good decisions. Unfortunately, the dice pulled the rug out on us in the third, but the Bad Kids continued to actually consider their environment, showing everything they learned from the last two years.

Mysteries unravel, and once again, time magic saves the day, but what might’ve been a moment of triumph crumbles so incredibly that it might’ve easily dragged into another spiral, but even as things go wrong, the pacing remains strong, and though they fumble, the Bad Kids work as a group once more.

Has the tide turned for our heroes? Or will this be a high point in its ruin before the fallout of Cassandra’s unmaking? Let us know what you think in the comments below or go over to our Discord channel to join the conversation.

Featured Image: Dimension 20

The Boss Rush Podcast: The Flagship Podcast of Boss Rush Media and the Boss Rush Network

The Boss Rush Podcast – The Boss Rush Podcast is the flagship podcast of Boss Rush Media and the Boss Rush Network. Each week, Corey, Stephanie, LeRon, and their friends from around the internet come together with other creators, developers, and industry veterans to talk about games they’ve been playing, discuss video game and entertainment based topics, and answer questions solicited on social media and the community Discord. 

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