What. An. Arc.
Today we’re wrapping up our mini arc with everyone’s favorite elderly heroes, the HexBuds!
See also:
- NADDPOD Listen Along: Introduction
- NADDPOD Listen Along: Eldermourne Episode 9, Hexblood
- NADDPOD Listen Along: Eldermourne Episode 10, The Would Be King
- NADDPOD Listen Along: Eldermourne Episode 11, Killshot
- NADDPOD Listen Along: Eldermourne Episode 12, The Prophet Gideon
- NADDPOD Listen Along: Eldermourne Episode 13, Cindersworn
- NADDPOD Listen Along: Eldermourne Episode 14, The Petty King of Outerborough
It has been quite the start of 2021 with Lou Wilson on the podcast in place of the golden(-toed) boy turned antsy artificer, Caldwell Tanner, and while we’re going to be glad to see Zirk back in action with his Choo Choo Crew, Lou/Jabari will be sorely missed.
As always, our write ups are chock-full of spoilers — because that’s, you know, kind of the point of recaps — so if you haven’t caught up to this most recent episode, what in the Nine Hells are you waiting for?
For those are you who are caught up… Let’s do this!
Recap
The episode starts with the HexBuds being confronted by three undead horrors on the second floor of the Jackelope Keep, having successfully evacuated the innocent residents.
Just before things start coming to blows, the youthful King Brightleap steps in between the two trios. He says that he stayed behind while Maxorra and Prophet Kane went off to further their agenda, as he believes that he can still sway the Hexbloods to their cause. He invites them inside his chambers, and they join him in the inhumanely dark and cold room.
He makes his pitch: “They call us the Prophets because the Reaper speaks through us. Whatever else you heard is lies, trickery. Am I the same as I was before? No. I have power. I have focus. I am no longer conflicted, but during that ritual I made the choice to return, and so did the other Prophets.”
Murph notes that the king doesn’t exactly look like an undead monster, but that he has necrotic wisps trailing him. Thirston says that he finally has a purpose, and believes that he fights for all of Eldermourne, having heard the Reaper’s words without facing his judgement (being brought back from death by Maxorra).
He explains that there is now another god masquerading as a mortal in the material realm, constantly reincarnating and eluding the Reaper’s judgement through the help of the Trickster.
This has angered the Reaper, prompting him to close Reverie to all souls until this new “god” finally faces judgement.
Brightleap asks the HexBuds to help him in this pursuit, as this is all that stands between them and heaven.
Tarragon brings up the fact that the Trickster’s groves seem something close to heaven, and wonders if the Reaper could be persuaded to reconsider his strict gatekeeping.
To which the king replies “there is one god with power here. We are pawns playing his game. The faster we can get out of here the better, it doesn’t matter what is right.”
He also mentions that if they do not plan on helping him, there are upwards of 100 Hexblood bodies below them that he could bring to his cause.
“King, it cannot be that way,” Jabari says, “if that is your intention.”
With a thunderous voice, the king scolds his old captain of the guard. “I have the power of a god on my side. Who are you to stop me?! WHO ARE ANY OF YOU TO STOP ME?”
“We were your heroes when you were a kid…” Tarragon offers in response.
“And now,” the undead king says, “I am a Prophet.”
Initiative is rolled, and King Brightleap has everything from Lair Actions to Legendary Actions to Legendary Resistances up his sleeves.
Tarragon manages to burn through all three LRs in a single turn by spamming Stunning Strike three times in a row, which is followed up by Jabari managing to land one that sticks.
Spectral coffins and hands continue to claw at the HexBuds as lair actions, and the three undead in the hallway are making their way inside, however, so the fight isn’t nearly over yet.
Kaydren shows up with flames spouting from her hands and tells the HexBuds that they all need to leave sooner rather than later.
Brightleap manages to snag Tarragon by the throat and cast a spell on Jabari, which sends him into a flashback of The Stand at Northborough, a famous battle that the king and Hexbloods all took part in against the Frost Giants of the north. Jabari, thinking his king is being accosted by enemy giants, fires off arrows at a real-life Corbeau, who manages to catch the one that would have hit.
With Jabari still delirious, Tarragon manages to wrestle the bloodied king in front of his next arrow, which kills the Prophet King and snaps Jabari back to reality.
Jabari decapitates the king just before Kaydren casts Fly on the whole party.
The HexBuds fly into the sky above the castle and note about a dozen or so Cindersworn casting Grease and Fire Ball in unison. They’re burning the castle as well as the undead Hexblood warriors that are swarming out of it: “Rise fire rise flames to kill what is already dead. Burn Fire Burn, turn to ashes to begin again,” the Cindersworn chant.
Just when the castle has crumbled and all seems over, a giant mace strikes Kaydren out of the sky, causing the HexBuds to plummet to the ground.
It’s a good thing that Monks are basically cats and falling from an otherwise fatal height doesn’t mean squat to them.
They see that the burning, headless remains of Thirston Brightleap have reanimated, and the head at Jabari’s belt is attempting to bite him, ordering that it be returned to its body. He instead jams the head into his pack, and the HexBuds take on this even more undead version of the king. Tarragon is grappled by animated chains and Corbeau is linked up to the corpse through some necrotic tether that forces him to take part of the king’s damage.
Jabari nearly gets dragged under the castle rubble by those spectral hands, but Corbeau grabs him just in time through the power of friendship (and the d4 he used from Tarragon’s Emboldening Bond).
A nat 20 from Jabari finally finishes off the king for good, and amidst the flames and ruins Corbeau hosts a short-though-no-less-meaningful service.
“We accidentally had a blood ritual when we shoulda had a funeral, so let’s give him just a quick reflection now. He was a good man, a good king… A shitty horror, but a good man.”
Kaydren apologizes for dropping the Hexbloods out of the air, but the party notices that the Cindersworn were true to their word to keep the burn just to the castle; the rest of Harrenford looks to be unscathed. She invites the three to join with the Cindersworn to help them in future evacuations, but they decline; stating that they have “one more job” to take care of, ie. Maxorra/Merowyn/Mom.
The Dragonrose that Tarragon had been carrying around since leaving her Terrarium shop has begun to bloom in the ashes of the fallen castle. She plants the blooming flower in the ruins of what had once been their home.
Just then, Corbeau spots the same little Wintersprite out of the corner of his eye, zipping around in the direction of the Pearl Hill Grove Gate. He points it out, and asks if the other two are ready to see what’s in store for them next.
Jabari, having just killed his king and standing amid the burned ruins of the place — the life — he’d lived for more than a century, says “Jabari has his cot, Jabari has his friends, and Jabari is ready for a bath.”
Murph paints the picture: “The three of you together head off (‘at a full sprint’- Lou) towards the gate, towards your last mission, towards one last job… and that’s where we’ll end our arc.”
Commentary
*Applause. Standing applause*
Whew. I’m so glad I was wrong about Murph potentially killing off the HexBuds just to make things more manageable down the line.
I’m also so glad that they weren’t turned into unwilling Prophets that the Choo Choo Crew would have to fight in some muuuuch later arc, too.
I think it is incredibly thematically fitting that Jabari killed Brightleap at the end, and that the Jackelope Keep was burned to the ground before his very eyes.
I especially loved that Murph mixed in a flashback to the glory years of the HexBuds forcing Jabari to attack Corbeau to protect his king, which really echoed the struggle that Jabari had been facing over the entire arc between blind loyalty to the king/killing and the love he has for his friends/their new ideologies.
I mean, it was Jabari’s loyalty to the king and hope for things to go back to the way they were — for him to be the captain of the kingsguard again — that sparked this whole mess in the first place, really.
For a character whose main flaw was holding onto the past, being freed from the constraints of his loyalty to the king seems like a very fitting end to the arc of both his character and this story.
…But that’s not to say that this is the end of the HexBuds in NADDPOD! Which I am very happy to hear. I suppose Caldwell will either have to take a long vacation sometime down the line or come up with a new character to join the HexBuds for their Reunion AKA The Killing Mom Again Tour.
Ooooor maybe Zirk will be the only member of the Choo Choo Crew to make it to a high enough level to join them??? (I’m probably thinking to grimly, but who knows.)
Okay, wow, also! The information we got from Brightleap about this new god that is being reincarnated over and over and over again without being presented before the Reaper for judgement was amazing. Is that Henry? Could it possibly be? I mean he is “cursed” in some way, and he has definitely had past lives that he can somehow (somewhat) remember.
Maybe he isn’t like, a god or anything, but that the Reaper thinks he must be because his curse keeps him from ever getting a proper judgement. Maybe Henry is destined to enter Reverie but the Trickster cursed him to keep in in the material realm for… reasons. Maybe?
Damn do I ever love this podcast.
I honestly don’t think I have too much more to say about the episode (other than roses, thorns, and buds, of course), as it was quite combat heavy. I suppose a thanks is in order, both to the whole crew at NADDPOD for the amazing storytelling, to Lou for an impeccable guest appearance, and to all of you who have been reading these Listen Alongs!
It looks like we’ll have a bit of a break next week before things pick back up with Caldwell and the Choo Choo Crew, so I may just have to start my recap of Bahumia’s 100 eps in a Relisten Along series during that time…
I sure hope I do, but we shall see.
Roses:
- Corbeau making the crocs canon again
- The Buds bringing Kaydren in for a closed loop hug at the end
- The fact that this entire epic battle took place at the break of dawn
- Henry is a god confirmed 100%
- Emily, the player, baiting out THREE LEGENDARY RESISTANCES IN A SINGLE TURN
- The Stand at Northborough just sounds awesome
- The fact that Jabari killed two kings over the course of, what, 24 hours?
- The Dragonrose blooming in the ashes of the Hexblood’s old home
Thorns:
- Knowing we’re not going to get to see these characters for another few months at the least
- I wanted to hear two Cindersworn speak to each other
Buds:
- Looking forward to Caldwell being back in action!
That’s it for this arc! Find other NADDPOD Listen Alongs here and share your takes, predictions, roses, and thorns in the comments below.
NADDPOD Listen Along: Eldermourne Episode 13, Cindersworn
