Title: Toylight
GM: Brennan Lee Mulligan
Players: Emily Axford (she/her) as Tiddlywinks (a.k.a. Cutie Pie) (he/him). Siobhan Thompson (she/her) as Constance (she/her). Lou Wilson (he/him) as Wyon (he/him). Brian Murphy (he/him) as Ol’ Clyde Horsey (he/him). Zac Oyama (he/him) as Avery Augustus Archibald Tinsley (he/him) Ally Beardsley (they/them) as Calypso (she/her).
Streaming Service: Dropout

If you haven’t checked them out already, you can catch up on our reviews of prior episodes – one, two, and three.

We jump right back into the thick of the battle for Port Cochere and the Train Station. Constance’s vision of the bear in the woods hangs over our heroes head, but we don’t have time for answers. Instead, we’re thrown into devastation as the ratkin rush into the light, murdering Pretty Girl and continuing their onslaught despite their fear.

A mold ghast burrows to the first spark beyond the gate, sacrificing himself to dim the light. The dust bunnies and ratkin break through the palisade despite two marble traps coming down on top of them. Their numbers make it easy to throw them forward as fodder.

Having grappled Calypso in the last episode, the ghast holding her down suffers an attack, but too close to death, it flies into the air, bringing the rabbit warlock right along with it. In a risky move, Calypso uses an eldritch blast to free herself and sends herself back to the roof, avoiding a deadly fall.

Niles and the remaining thimbles are torn apart between the ratkins and a tornado of flies. For every inch of ground our heroes regain, they seem to be losing more, fighting a losing battle against the darkness and disease. However, as many deaths as keep coming, the sheer volume can only be met with an underwhelming glibness as the earlier episodes weren’t nearly enough to set up a major emotional toll.

Two ratkin grab another glow spark, throwing themselves over the edge to die in attempt to destroy it. They don’t manage to damage it, but having brought it down from the roof, that’s another glow spark within easy striking distance for them. In a desperate move to save one of the glow spark, Tinsley and Nut Megan manage to extend themselves to the limit and protect it.

Calypso focuses on the remaining ratkin honor guard, leaving him terrified before making her way across the battlefield to protect the glow sparks. With Constance’s assistance, Cutie Pie teleports across the field, picking up another glow spark and keeping the ratkin at bay.

Unfortunately, all this has lead to a death charge. The dust bunnies leap forward, risking the damage of Constance’s acid rain in order to dim the glow spark’s light. Cutie Pie’s decision to tank the damage and stay in the acid rain is the only reason the spark isn’t completely destroyed and only slightly dimmed.

Pinned by another ghast, Calypso ends up back in the air and gets dropped. The ghast then dives upon the glow spark, dying in the effort.

Wyon throws himself into the hoard of ratkin. Cutting his way through the ranks, he lets out a final roar, frightening those he doesn’t leave dead upon the field.

All this isn’t enough. With the glow spark dimmed, the sorcerer of the Snuffer’s Crusade dispelled the spark entirely, leaving the nursery darker. Calypso falls as enemies swarm, but Tinsley steps in, pulling his ally to him.

Our Intrepid Heroes gather, abandoning the darkened Train Station to retreat. Ol’ Clyde gives Calypso a good berry, bringing her back from the edge of death, but heavily wounded, there is little hope in this darkness.

Highlights

Hearing Lou sing a parody of Chocolate Rain was a throwback I never knew I needed.

Final Score (4 out of 5 Stars)

With two episodes left, we’re solidly slipping into the dark. Siobhan mentioned they have secondary characters in the Adventuring Party, which is common for the more intense seasons with those coming into play in both seasons of A Crown of Candy. However, unlike those seasons which were longer and gave us a chance to become emotionally invested in the NPCs who died left and right, we haven’t had that same time, leaving the massacre of the Train Station a bit empty.

We’ll have to wait to see if the stakes raise next week, or this season may find itself coming apart in the back half as they vanish all together.

Let us know what you thought in 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. 

New episodes of The Boss Rush Podcast release every Monday morning on YouTube and all major podcast applications like Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Patreon supporters gain one week early access. 

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