Title: Cloudward, Ho!
GM: Brennan Lee Mulligan
Players: Emily Axford (she/her) as Marya Junková (she/her). Zac Oyama (he/him) as Daisuke Bucklesby (he/him). Siobhan Thompson (she/her) as Vanellope ‘Van’ Chapman (she/her). Lou Wilson (he/him) as Montgomery ‘Monty’ LaMontgommery (he/him). Ally Beardsley (they/them) as Olethra MacLeod (she/her). Brian Murphy (he/him) as Maxwell Gotch (he/him).
Streaming Service: Dropout

If you missed them, catch up on our review of the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth episodes!

We return to Zood far beneath the sea where our Intrepid Heroes have encountered the Eyeless Hand at the sunken Temple of Katur. With the name of the ancient god stolen from Olethra’s mind, everything is in place for their ceremony. However, with Van’s latest interaction with Tazgw’agwa, we’re all still wondering the line between Lovecraftian Eldritch Horror and Whovian space whale. Of course, there’s still the third option. Just some random giant and confused animal trapped in a place where it doesn’t want to be by forces it doesn’t understand in a world far smaller and tighter than the one it’s used to.

Daisuke pops out of the ship, discovering a gigantic crustacean. Charging forward, the aged gunslinger doesn’t hesitate to take aim, using the nuances of his class to brush danger aside not just for himself but his crewmates that will follow. Olethra is close behind. In her mech, she dashes to cover, loosing slick grease into the water around her.

Unlike his compatriots, Monty takes his time, analyzing the huge crab that attacked their ship. Unfortunately, Brennan rolled a Nat 20, preventing Monty from seeing a single weakness before swimming away to leave the matter to Maxwell. However, he manages to perceive a monstrosity. A cultist has torn themself apart, allowing a giant maw of some unknown horror to manifest on their chest.

When Maxwell launches, he notes the beast seems confused. Van rushes to his aid. Marya follows, helping them as well as Torse who shortly joins thereafter.

The cultists race forward. They knock Torse and Maxwell out with a psychic blast. Daisuke manages to resist, but Mordecestershire shuts down one of the beacons. Sniping a cultist twice, Daisuke takes one out despite their regenerative abilities. Action surging, with a flash of genius from Marya, he bloodies the crab.

Grappled from behind, Olethra slams backward, using the environment to crash her attacker into a nearby corner. She manages to break the hold. Monty surges forward, swimming into Olethra’s grease field. While it cloaks him and his air cord, it doesn’t allow him to get a read on the beacons.

Van swims ahead, ruptures her diving suit. A tentacle explodes from her prothesis as she gains dark vision. In doing so, she frees Maxwell, causing green flame blade damage and frees Torse as well. Torse rages as he snaps out of the mind control, destroying the crab.

With her dark vision, she discovers the cultist used Zernian tech to turn off the beacon, meaning it would be a complicated process to relight them. With more cultists ahead, Van turns the beacons over to Marya’s expertise.

Marya spies Mordecesterhire, dealing damage on him in hopes that he has something on him that can be used to determine more about how they darkened the beacon. In response, the cultists quickly attack. They grapple Maxwell, drawing lifeforce from him to heal themselves. Two attack Olethra. They steal her lifeforce as well. Van and Marya get caught in a psychic scream, which leaves them stunned.

Left with no choice, Olethra performs a Hail Mary. She drops her rage, rushing forward after Mordecestershire. Daisuke hitches a ride.

Marya pulls herself and helps Van from the stunned condition, attacking Mordecestershire once again and making him visible to the rest in the dark. Following her lead, Maxwell pilots their submersible into a cultist and then beats them to death when that doesn’t work.

Rushing in the face of this onslaught, Mordecestershire sacrifices a cultist to shut down the third beacon. Maxwell wrestles the knife away, racing away from him. Mordecestershire tries to grapple Maxwell, but Olethra flips it on him, pinning the tentacled cultist. However, the enemy gets away, making it to the final beacon, but he doesn’t have the knife or a cultist to sacrifice.

While our Intrepid Heroes manage to kill Mordecestershire, a cultist calls the name and throws himself into the portal, getting his face ripped off as a tentacle comes through the portal.

Marya manages to relight the beacons. The portal closes, and the tentacles are sliced as light returns to the sunken temple.

Highlights

While this isn’t Dimension 20‘s first swing at Eldritch Horror, the confusion of the supposed horrors and monsters heighten the focus on the horrors of the cultists themselves. Their willingness to tear themselves apart and fuse with unknown entities is horrifying enough, but each time Brennan describes the monsters as confused or scared, the question bubbles to the surface about whether the beings they’ve fused with had any understanding of what was being done to them. Did the cultist modify themself or did they fuse with some unknown entity? If they fused, did they simply draw a creature from the depths and sew it to themself in some kind of Human Centipede-like horror for the creature?

Of course, compared to the stoat in the throat, puppeteering a corpse, this Eldritch Horror leans more psychological despite swinging at body horror now and again. I mean, our Intrepid Heroes haven’t fought in the corpse of a giant, half-dead creature turned hive for predatory chipmunks, so Aabria’s still coming up on top so far on this one.

Final Score (4 out of 5 Stars)

Dimension 20 edits combat like a dream, but the impossible odds at the start left me thoroughly convinced that Mordecestershire would succeed even with his death. Instead, the tide turned, and two gigantic tentacles were severed as the portal closed. At times, Brennan tempted Van and other members toward the disaster, but they managed to avert his efforts.

Despite this, the fight felt like a series climax, but we have another seven episodes left in the series. However, we have to remember that this season has multiple villains, including the Queen of Zern and Straka who remains.

Brennan probably was thinking the same based on his comments in this week’s Adventuring Party. He had expected their failure, admitting to crafting the battle with that in mind, but good decisions and a well-timed Haste roll turned the tide.

It’s not the first time that our Intrepid Heroes have forced a mid-season rewrite with their clever choices, so we’ll just have to wait to see how things turn out.

The rumors remain the same:

1. There’s a kill switch in the MechLeod.
   • Marya finally told Olethra, but nothing was found yet.
2. Olethra MacLeod is a robot.
3. Pappy was lost at air for six months.
4. Van is secretly working with the Confederate Republic.
   • This rumor came from a member of Marya’s and Van’s old crew.
   • Van denied it, noting her family money means she would never need to take a bribe.
5. Van won the Grand Kabilian Toe Wrestling Championship.
   • Confirmed by Van.
6. Daisuke can hold his breath for an hour.
   • Zach confirmed this to be a lie, but nothing was said in game.

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

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