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, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth episodes!

The Bad Kids reenter Elmville thanks to K2’s divine intervention, landing Seacaster Manor on the school grounds. Students poured out, but while Gorgug flirts with his artificer classmates, Fabian quickly pulls in Mazey and Jawbone to get the votes counted. However, they’re an hour out from when Mazey can count the votes, leaving them in a dangerous period of uncertainty.

Ragh and Jawbone race to Mordred Manor. Whether sending allies away will prove beneficial or leave them all the more vulnerable, the players don’t even consider.

Frankly, it’s a bit worrying that they don’t consider that this hour leaves the weight of the whole ritual and Ankarna’s defense on Cassandra as the Nightmare King. Brennan has not shied away from using his players’ plotting against them, willing to have NPCs intercede or interfere to show how their actions do not cease during rest periods.

Though not touched upon in full, Ally notes that Kristen had enjoyed having K2 as a sister of sorts, so if given a chance, Kristen would want K2 back. The simulacrum tuned martyr returns as a spirit, bringing with her an ice feast that prevents fire damage and the stun condition, which are two of Porter’s greatest attacks.

Another old time ally returns in the form of Squeem returns. Though he hasn’t arrived yet, the crystalline warrior is nearly there, and with a coffee order planned, the Bad Kids head to the gym where they encounter the Rat Grinders, Porter, and Stardiamond. Their ritual had failed, and Fig’s wrong name trick has brought chaos.

Riz takes first in initiative. As he attacks from a hidden position, he prevents counter spells and leaves his opponents at a disadvantage. Porter burns one of his limited legendaries. Buddy is the only one who saves. Both Ruben and Mary Ann slow.

Fig targets Oisin, casting smite as her vultures grapple him. Taking full advantage of his birthday gift, Fabian launches in spectral form. He surges for Ivy. His first misses, but he hits her with the second, tripping her as Mazey takes over on the Hangman. Slaughtering Ivy with ease, Fabian turns his attention to Oisin, taking advantage of his captured state.

Porter burns another legendary action, leaping across the gym and worsening the terrain. The wanna-be god attacks Fabian, knocking him prone to crush him.

As K2 carefully traverses the wreckage, Kristen dives beneath the wreckage. In doing so, she gets full coverage; however, this is Ankarna’s rising body, and drawing closer to the spouse of her deity, Kristen put herself in prime position to usurp the ritual energy for more noble purposes.

Wailing on his guitar, Ruben takes down Fig, Gorgug, and Adaine, giving Porter an opening to attack Fig and Fabian. Kipperlilly shows herself only to get brutally parried by Riz, which sends her under the floorboards after Kristen.

Then Adaine gets her turn. Having accidentally clustered, the Rat Grinders and allies are in a twenty-foot radius. Only Oisin and Mary Ann manage to save. As a result, Ruben loses concentration, but Buddy manages to maintain his. However, Jace Stardiamond roles for four concentrations, losing three of them. Despite this, Stardiamond gets the name from Fig’s mind, screaming out Ankarna’s name.

As Adaine turns to stone, Gorgug launches across the gym, attacking Oisin. Using his frenzy, the barbarian-artificer crits with a Nat 20. Oisin goes down, joining Ivy. With his final action, Gorgug attacks Porters, aiming to grapple him and succeeding. Porter takes a swing, but Gorgug keeps standing.

Riz takes advantage of Porter’s new position, attacking him from beneath the floorboards. Immune to fire and unable to hide, Riz delves into the lava.

Curing wounds, Kristen brings back Fig and Fabian from the brink. K2 races forward, still invisible. She casts another mass cure wounds.

Gorgug holds Porter, keeping him pinned through the giant’s ruthless onslaught until the last attack. Holding up Gorgug’s unconscious form, he tries to intimidate Adaine, who simply retorts the man doesn’t even know her name.

Clearly upset at her favorite professor looking the fool, Kipperlilly attacks Adaine before disappearing. Despite her injuries, Adaine dispels Ruben’s magic, freezing Mazey. A successful constitution save puts her in the right direction to escape a statuesque fate.

Though Mazey heals him, Gorgug isn’t up for long. Porter knocks him out, calling upon those with rage tokens, but no one turns to his side. He takes an attack of opportunity against Fig. Despite that, Fig remains standing. She falls into the lava. Once there, Fig calls to Ankarna, encouraging her to pick her own purpose.

In a burst of fire, Ruben falls, landing in lava and ending up in Hell. Buddy loses concentration, and the ballet box appears.

Highlights

Loser said, “What?”

Gorgug has suffered under Porter’s constant derision each season, so to see the confidence as what could’ve been a ruinous attack comes to nothing turn into a juvenile joke is perfect comeuppance.

Despite his rage form, Porter has a few more interludes than we’ve seen in the big bads of previous seasons. While the stoicism of the Nightmare King made sense, the wit of Kalvaxus leaned into his draconic greed and reactions to clever quips made by the players; however, Porter expresses a clear interest in worship and recruiting folks to his side. He clearly enjoyed being a teacher, which makes for an interesting villain.

Final Score (4 out of 5 Stars)

This first half of the final battle showed the weakness of the Rat Grinders as half of their number fell rather quickly; however, at the same time, Porter and Stardiamond pulled out all the stops. Sharing quips, Porter is more active with his legendaries and a pre-existing relationship with a few of the Bad Kids, but Stardiamond’s magic knocked our players for loop after loop.

There’s a long way to go, and Ankarna’s entrance will dramatically alter the field regardless of how it goes. With Fig as her champion, we can be hopeful, but Porter’s been working the goddess over significantly longer, and earlier attacks have showed the rage crystals could turn people unexpectedly into allies. Though this may not have been the case for the Bad Kids themselves, the whole of Elmville is within his influence, so who knows how this fight will go.

Which Rat Grinder do you think will fall next? Will all our intrepid heroes make it out alive? 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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