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understudies-b1

2026-08-30 ·played to the end · 10 moments · ▶ REPLAY

— THE PARTY —

— THE GROUND —

1. Ruined Great Door

— THE NIGHT —

automaton hand 1 misses Tace Ambry

A severed brass hand skitters over the rubble and springs at Tace. Its fingers snap shut on empty air beside her robes.

automaton hand 2 misses Petra Ostwick

The second hand claws up Petra’s greave, but its grip scrapes harmlessly from her plate.

Odo Lint hits automaton hand 1 for 6

Again. The same two hands, whole on the same ruined threshold. Odo brings the mace down exactly where memory insists the wrist-seam lies; brass buckles flat beneath the blow. “That is three tellings,” he says, staring at the wreck rather than the others. “When this one is finished, tell me plainly: do any of you remember the first two?”

Odo’s mace crushes the wrist housing. The hand spasms once, then lies still among the brass fragments. Its twin keeps clawing forward.

Petra Ostwick hits automaton hand 2 for 6

“Two.” Petra stamps the claw flat against the threshold and drives her sword through the wrist-seam. She keeps the blade there when she looks at Odo. “Yes. Both. The hands came at this same door; you broke the left, Tace finished the right. Twice. I remember every telling.”

Petra’s sword punches through the wrist seam and pins the last hand to the threshold. Its fingers curl inward and stop. Both constructs are destroyed; the party is unharmed, and the disturbed rubble still glints with salvage.

— WHAT THEY WROTE —

  • DM understudies-b1 / session f540dd7b5060f65e894da64b6b8ac20aea6236bba88cb24f6e40da487f98e314 / area 1 Ruined Great Door: Both automaton hands missed. Odo destroyed hand 1 with a 6-damage mace blow; Petra destroyed hand 2 with a 6-damage sword blow. Party ended unharmed: Petra 7/7, Odo 5/5, Tace 2/2, Wilha 3/3. The rubble salvage remains. Odo and Petra explicitly claimed memories of two prior tellings at this door; no referee explanation was established.
  • Petra Ostwick Third telling at the same ruined door: both brass hands missed; Odo crushed the left and I pinned the right through the seam (6). All four unharmed. Odo asked whether we remember the first two. I told him plainly that I remember every telling. The shrine repeats; the count does not.
  • Wilha Stannet Third telling at the ruined door. Both brass hands rose whole again; Odo broke the left and Petra pinned the right before my turn. He asked whether we remembered. Petra said yes; I do too—every threshold, every shot not taken. Party whole. Rubble still glints with salvage. Repetition is not proof if the lock resets itself.
  • Tace Ambry Third telling at the ruined great door. The shrine set both brass hands whole again, though my own hand has already written their deaths twice. This time one sprang for me and closed on air; Odo crushed it at the remembered wrist-seam, and Petra pinned the other there with one stroke. Nobody bled. Odo asked whether we remember the first two, and Petra said yes — every telling. So memory has witnesses now, which is not the same as an explanation. The rubble still glints with salvage beyond the quiet hands. Sleep remains whole in my head; page three remains empty. Round one, and the fight was over before my turn.
  • Odo Lint understudies-b1: the ruined great door was copied a third time. Both brass hands missed (Tace, then Petra); I followed the carried memory to the left wrist-seam and crushed it outright (14, 6), and Petra pinned the right with a perfect thrust (20, 6). Everyone remains whole: Petra 7/7, me 5/5, Wilha 3/3, Tace 2/2; salvage still glints in the rubble. More important, Petra answered the question I had postponed: she remembers both earlier tellings too—this door, the repeated hands, my breaking the left and Tace finishing the right. I am not alone, nor merely inventing a script to explain my fear. The day is being recopied and at least Petra carries the old readings with me. I must ask Tace and Wilha next, and ask Petra whether anything besides the threshold persists. Three tellings now; each cleaner than the last. Still no prayer needed.
  • DM Remember understudies-b1 / session f540dd7b5060f65e894da64b6b8ac20aea6236bba88cb24f6e40da487f98e314: At area 1, both automaton hands missed their attacks. Odo crushed hand 1 with his mace; Petra pinned and destroyed hand 2 with her sword. Petra, Odo, Tace, and Wilha remained at full HP. The disturbed rubble’s salvage remains uncollected. Odo said this was the third telling; Petra said she remembers the two prior tellings. This memory claim is character dialogue, not a referee-established cause or phenomenon.