Manor Most Foul - Episode 5 : "Kitchen Nightmare"

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@Mr._Matt Ай бұрын

***SPOILERS*** This session began right where the last one left off: with our intrepid uh..."heroes" (?) taking on an insectoid butler, Seamus! Svind used her signature rat toss on the fellow, while Bugum Toe made very unseemly messes around the room. How uncouth! Of course, Sponge, the combat god, obliterated Seamus with ease. Sponge teaches us a valuable lesson here: who really needs intelligence or wisdom to solve problems when you can just punch those problems really, REALLY hard instead? I think we could all stand to learn a bit from Sponge. I've enjoyed watching Groten throughout the series thus far, and I liked that he had a few more-prevalent moments in this session in particular. One of my favorite bits of the episode was actually when Bugum insinuated a lack of medical knowledge on Groten's part, and he smacked Bugum in the face with his staff. Despite me occasionally wanting to pity Bugum due to his status as the punching bag and underdog of the party, the staff-smack felt so merited as he implied Groten's incompetence on the matter of whether or not insectoid abominations have insects. Are Groten and Svind actually somehow managing to get me to support their frequent abuse of Bugum? My amusement at that moment in this episode makes me think...perhaps yes. Then again, when Svind abuses Bugum, it's more out of a perverse sadism, whereas when Groten did it, it was more of a "How dare you crap on my knowledge as a doctor?!" sort of moment, which felt more justified to me (even though I know it isn't). I was also happy that he got to spike the drinks later on in the episode, giving his concoctions some purpose. On the note of Svind's sadism, "You're right, Bugum...it doesn't have teeth...but you do." That's so messed up, but in this dark comedy show, it's a lot of fun. While I'm going over various bits of amusement for me, I'd also like to point out Sponge stomping on Seamus until his remains were basically unrecognizable. Also, later on, in the feast/dining area, I feared for that undead guy's unlife when Sponge told the guy that he was sitting in the Prince's chair, because at this point I'm convinced that Sponge would literally jump off a cliff into lava if the Prince asked him to on a whim. "Look, you've got to understand that because you've got no belly, you can't eat nothin', so this is goin' to a better cause!" 10/10 logic right there. I mean he's not wrong! I think that's my favorite line of dialogue from the episode. Hahaha, I was so distracted by that bit when I originally watched, that I missed the skeleton's frantic attempts to escape the manor after being manhandled by Sponge. It's great that such a hilarious collection of players and GM were put together for this show. This session saw both Svind and Bugum putting some effort into trying to investigate things in the manor, with the former pondering the statue they'd encountered before, and the latter taking a little trip into the kitchen. By the way, in case anyone (me included, Sheepy had to tell me!) didn't notice, the music was muffled/a-bit-muted in the kitchen to give an effect like it was coming from the room full of festivities. Even though it didn't register in my head at the time, it made for great background which my brain subconsciously registered, acting as a lovely garnish for the scene. It was nice to see some investigative work from the party. While comedy can be a treat, I'm a sucker for a good story and unraveling a mystery, so progression in that area is a welcome commodity in my eyes. As Bugum looked around in the kitchen and spoke to the slightly less-than-hygienic cook within, we learned of a "hunt." Bugum attempted to dig a bit deeper, but wasn't given much else besides that, though. My guess - given what little information we're operating on at present - is that it will be the undead hunting the living, which would mean trouble for Svind and Groten. Sponge will be fine. He'll just punch everything...unless the lich in charge of this manor commands the Prince to attack Sponge, in which case Sponge will embody the "guess I'll die" meme. In regard to the lich, even though liches generally have magicks controlling undead in fiction, I thought we got to see a pretty cool moment: witnessing one bringing many chaotic undead to heel in an instant. Sebastian played that out nicely. Lastly, as usual, Sebastian did excellent work in this latest episode, from his comedic escaping skeleton, to bringing a room full of undead to life (pun intended) with festivities, to exhibiting a commanding presence as the lord of the manor. Of course, beyond even his standard GMing "duties," he also provided the great art for the show, which really helped me visualize the goings on better in scenes. I had a difficult time choosing between the kitchen with its grotesque cook, and the dining area full of festive undead, but I finally decided the latter was my favorite piece of art for this episode because it helped to illustrate the less-threatening nature of that scene compared to all of the other rooms full of things wanting to kill Bugum Toe (and allegedly the rest of the party, too, but I doubt it). With just two episodes left to go, we'll have to see where things go next week! =)