Media References and Puns of 2-07 Hush

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Media References and Puns of 2-07 Hush

Thanks to @TriaElf9 for the art piece!

How many references to Judas Priest's song, "Breakin' the Law" were in this episode? Too. Too many refs, too many refs.

Media References

  • (0:02:51) Liam: Les Mis was a stepping stone for this.
  • (0:03:15) Liam: *Mickey Mouse voice* Comes with Prime!
  • (0:13:16) Matt: Regular gnolls. (“Breakin’ the Law” by Judas Priest)
  • (0:13:40) Travis: Visual aid, visual aid! (“Breakin’ the Law” by Judas Priest)
  • (0:17:52) Liam: Regular roll, regular roll. (“Breakin’ the Law” by Judas Priest)
  • (0:18:57) Liam: Regular gnoll, regular gnoll. (“Breakin’ the Law” by Judas Priest)
  • (0:19:00) Liam: Just nein and regular gnoll, that’s all we have. (“Breakin’ the Law” by Judas Priest)
  • (0:21:57) Sam: Can I use my regular-- regular gnoll. (“Breakin’ the Law” by Judas Priest)
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Monster Analysis: Hyenas

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  • First appearance: 2-06 The Howling Mines
  • Armor Class 11
  • Speed 50 ft
  • Pack Tactics (advantage on attacks with group)
  • Suggested Average, Max HP: 5, 9
    • Between 5 and 13 damage dealt to each hyena

Hyenas followed Yeenoghu in his rampage. While many were corrupted by the carnage they fed on in his wake, not all received his cursed blessing. Many hyenas still follow the pack of gnolls, scavenging for leftovers from the gnolls’ excursions and attacking the occasional wayward wanderer as the pack’s guard dogs. They are simple beasts, operating out of a sense of survival, instinct, and basic hunger, rather than the insatiable craving for destruction of their bipedal kin.

A single well-aimed hit is enough to dispatch most hyenas, even among the lowliest of player characters. Their bites took a bit of luck to land on the party, and even those that did hit dealt upwards of 1d6 damage, a seriously low value compared to the weapons of their superiors.

Like the regular gnolls, the hyenas’ threat is in the numbers of the pack. Hyenas gain advantage to their attack when they have an ally harassing the same target. However, the real danger in the hyenas were not in the damage that they could deal (even with advantage), but in whose attention their barks and whines may have drawn. Outside of a gnoll stronghold and within the twisting tunnels of the mines a while colony occupies, their disturbed laughter and hungry growls serve to alert reinforcements. Valuable turns, spells, and other resources were spent dispatching creatures that the colony likely placed little value in in return, resulting in unfortunate trades lest the hyenas drew more powerful attention.

Media References and Puns of 2-06 The Howling Mines

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Behold, the Focus of this week’s Fiesta of references and puns. There’s a bit of Flex required, but we consider it our Super Duty.

Media References

  • (0:00:06) Travis: Yeah, we do!  Matt: Apparently someone’s got mail on Drag Race.
  • (0:01:32) Sam: (sings “Sabre Dance” by Aram Khachaturian)
  • (0:04:03) Matt: Those of you who have an Amazon Prime account can get a free subscription to the Twitch channel through Twitch.
  • (0:19:12) Liam: This is a Zork game. “We go downstairs.”
  • (0:27:55) Laura: Shrimp scampi, butterfly shrimp.  Travis: Coconut shrimp.  Laura: Fried shrimp. (Forrest Gump)
  • (0:33:25) Thadeus: Her name is Gesture?  Taliesin: It is a gesture, like Prince.  Matt: The adventurer formerly known as Jester.
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Monster Analysis: Gnolls (Alfield)

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Monster Analysis: Gnolls (Alfield)

Thanks to @GalacticJonah for this art piece!

“When gnolls are weakened, they seek out isolated settlements, maim and disable its inhabitants, and feed upon them as they rest and regain strength.” - Volo’s Guide to Monsters, p153

Long ago, carrion hyenas fed upon the grisly remains of the rampage of a demon lord. As their numbers grew, their form began to take on the cursed blessing of this entity, following him in an ever-growing pack of evil and reckless carnage until he was banished to the Abyss. In his disappearance, these cursed humanoids spread across the world, a sign of Yeenoghu’s persistent threat, interest in, and ongoing massacre of the entire Material Plane.

While their ever-present hunger for flesh and destruction guides their every action, gnolls will still choose their battles, targeting weak and exposed villages and victims that allow them to dominate and continue their path of destruction. They are even more disinclined to target defended settlements when their numbers are weakened, implying that the war band at Alfield, while overwhelming, are not necessarily at full capacity. It’s unclear at this time if the bodies loaded on the cart represent anything more than an addition to the gnolls’ food reserves, leaving a mystery for the party and the forces of Alfield to investigate.

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Media References and Puns of 2-05 The Open Road

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Question: Are "nine/nein" puns listed in this article?
Answer: NEIN. Those can be found here. (Though plenty of sea-based puns surfaced here, among others.)

Media References

  • (0:07:00) Laura: The Shadow of War expansion pack, The Blade of Galadriel came out!
  • (0:13:13) Matt: Imagination!  Laura: You’re doing it, Feeder, you’re doing it!  Taliesin: Bangarang! (Hook)
  • (0:24:07) Liam: Wakka wakka! (Fozzie Bear)
  • (0:25:56) Travis: Reach for the sky! (Toy Story)
  • (0:25:58) Taliesin: Be careful, those fingers are loaded! (Blazing Saddles)
  • (0:33:31) Taliesin: She’s starting to believe. (The Matrix)
  • (0:55:09) Liam: You would tell us if something was wrong, Rorschach.
  • (1:09:16) Liam: Vasquez.  Travis: You’re just too bad, Vasquez.  Matt: Vasquez is a pretty good print. Vasquez and Starbuck from the new Battlestar.
  • (1:10:49) Liam: It must be nice! (“Washington on Your Side” from Hamilton)
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Nine? Nein!

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Nein.jpg

Thanks to @icecoolz1 for this art piece!

We blame you for this, Foster.

Number of times nine or nein was said during Episode 2-05: 41.

  • (0:19:16) Sam: Nine!
  • (0:31:45) Liam: That’s a nine.
  • (1:12:04) Liam: Nine!
  • (1:12:05) Sam: Nine!
  • (1:12:06) Laura: Nine!
  • (1:12:10) Matt: Nine as well?
  • (1:12:16) (as Taliesin imitates Rammstein) Travis: Nein!
  • (1:52:47) Liam: That’s nine.
  • (1:52:54) Liam: Nine.
  • (1:54:40) Sam: Nine points, that’s including sneak attack damage.
  • (1:54:42) Sam: Nine points of damage.
  • (2:03:15) Travis: Nine! Nine!
  • (2:03:17) Matt: Nine. Nein!
  • (2:03:18) Travis, Marisha, and Taliesin: Nein!
  • (2:05:23) Matt: You suffer nine points of piercing damage.
  • (2:05:24) Sam: Nein!
  • (2:05:27) Matt: Lot of nines tonight.
  • (2:13:06) Travis: Nein.
  • (2:15:59) Taliesin: That’s nine points of damage.
  • (2:16:00) Matt: Nine points of damage.
  • (2:18:05) Laura: Nine.
  • (2:18:06) All: Nein!
  • (2:19:28) Laura: Nine radiant!
  • (2:19:29) Marisha and Sam: Nein!
  • (2:19:32) Matt: What is it with the nines tonight?
  • (2:19:40) Taliesin: We just lost...nine.
  • (2:20:02) Laura: Plus three is nine!
  • (2:20:03) All: NEIN!
  • (2:21:28) Liam: Nein! Nein! Nein!
  • (2:21:41) Liam: Push my back against the wall and go: Nein, nein, nein, nein, nein, nein.
  • (3:30:25) Liam: Nein!
  • (3:30:27) Taliesin: Nein!

Character Class Updates: Level Three

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Character Class Updates: Level Three

Thanks to @AsheFace for this art piece!

As we mentioned in our first article about the new-to-this-campaign classes, often features of a class aren’t decided until level 3, once the character has had the chance to explore the world and figure out what path they’d like to take. Not every class is that way: Clerics choose their domain at level one and Druids choose their Circle at level two, for example. We already wrote about Beau’s level three monk tradition in our battle analysis last week, so we wanted to give the level three updates now that we know what almost everyone, save Yasha, has chosen.

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Quick Answers 59

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It’s been a while, but yes, we’re still collecting and answering questions!

How soon do you update your character sheets?

In order to limit spoilers, all updates to the character sheets will be delayed until after the episodes have posted to YouTube on Monday. While we appreciate the mass amounts of enthusiasm we have received in the form of comments, rest assured that we likely already have recorded these in our notes!

How much time has passed since Vox Machina’s conclusion and the beginning of the new campaign?

Vox Machina: 812 PD during Vecna’s rise.
New Campaign: begins 835 PD.
So approximately 22-23 years have passed since Vecna’s defeat and the beginning of the new campaign.

Why the h*ck does Sam have “Front Butt” on his mug in Ep2-02?

In Talks Machina # 49, Laura talked about her role in selecting screencaps from the photoshoot they had surrounding shooting of the new opening credits. She lamented having to look at Sam’s legs in those shorts, stating that when they were pushed together, it looked like he had a “front butt.”

Are you keeping track of--

Maybe! If it’s specifically tied to the Wildemount campaign, we’ll be keeping the links to the ongoing lists on the Wildemount Campaign Running Stats page. Of the requests we’ve received, some of the new running stats for the new campaign include the following:

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Monster Analysis: Monk of the Cobalt Soul

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Monster Analysis: Monk of the Cobalt Soul

Thanks to @JinjiDraws for this art piece!

  • First Appearance: 2-04 Disparate Pieces
  • Armor Class 12 < x < 21
  • Speed 40 ft
  • 31 damage taken

The Way of the Cobalt Soul appears in the Tal’Dorei Campaign Guide as a monastic tradition option for those whose character values using knowledge to crush corruption and falsehoods presented by those who would abuse the power they have. While we briefly discussed the monk as a new class to the show, we can now dive in a little bit more into the path that Beauregard has embarked upon, as well as what she can look forward to, as demonstrated by Expositor Dairon.

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