Volume 1: In the Blood Ep. 0 - Intro to the Show
TRANSCRIPT - In the Blood Ep. 0 - Intro to the Show
Tau
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[SFX: Whisperforge chime.] Sound and Story: Brought to Life.
Tau
You're listening to Episode Zero of ROGUE RUNNERS Volume 1: In the Blood. If you want to jump right into the action, skip on over to Episodes 1 and 2 which are available now. If you want to get a better feel for the show, its premise, and who's playing whomst, then stick around and keep listening here. Just as a heads-up, we do discuss character backstories, which does include a mention of suicide. Our whole show encompasses pretty much all of the stuff that happens in Greek mythology. It's violent, scary, weird, and we make a lot of irreverent jokes about it. I hope whenever you're feeling ready and able, you'll join us. Let's jump right in.
[SFX: Title music.] "Longing for the crisp air, a snowy surface—maimed, burdened, and bound by blood and darkness."
Tau
Oh my gosh, well, welcome to Session 0 of In the Blood a very-heavily-inspired-by-our favorite-video-game-of-the-year live play. This is like an improvised work of fanfiction essentially. Like, I don't think we're gonna become rich and famous pretending to be Hades characters. Yeah, but we, you know, we've been really big fans of Hades by Supergiant, it is definitely like my favorite game of the year, I put like 400+ hours into it. We thought it would make a really fun, live play, story to tell...live play/actual play/what-have-you. And you know, I've basically been spending the last few months adapting it into, you know, a D&D module that you can kind of lay over the original 5th Edition rule set, and you know, making custom characters and character subclasses and abilities that are kind of like themed in that universe. And then kind of like putting together a little cool-ass story about it. So that's what I have to say about it. What does everyone else have to say? Who is, who is playing this? Oh, also, my name is Tau. Hi!
Giancarlo
There we go! That was our lovely DM for the series Tau Zaman and creator of this module. But hi, i'm Giancarlo Herrera. I'm going to be playing Rolf Yannik. This is a Norse human who finds himself in Hades, which is a little odd because he's Norse. So you know, that's like that's a thing. Six foot seven, pretty slender frame, long silver hair, blue eyed, and is a sorcerer. And so my subclass within this system is the Chthonic Soul. Am I saying that wrong? I've never heard of it.
Tau
In Hades the game they say "kuh-thonic" — I have always pronounced it solely "thonic." And I will just be like switching up the pronunciation whenever. So you should feel free to do the same.
Giancarlo
Great. So I'll go "kuh-thonic" for now. But yeah, Chthonic Soul, which is a subclass that you take. So starting at third level, you get some really cool abilities, would now be the time I guess to kind of talk about that? Tau do you want to explain that?
Tau
Yeah. So...so you know, you're playing a sorcerer. And we wanted the Sorcerer to kind of feel like it was a class that could be played in the world of Hades. So we did a couple of things to kind of theme it around what gameplay was like in the actual video game. So what did that look end up looking like?
Giancarlo
Essentially, it's, it's a really cool play on the idea of the, like the blood crystals. So we have Chthonic casting: "starting at 1st level, you draw some of your own blood to create a blood crystal, which amplifies your spell casting. This is represented by a blood crystal die, as you level up, you gain the ability to create more blood crystal dice, and their size increases." So that's kind of what we got right now. I really love at least in theory that the way that you've implemented this, the idea of the blood crystal into this game and having that die to amplify spells. So basically, you can use that to, especially at later levels, you have more options with it. But basically to increase chances to hit or to make a saving throw either easier, more difficult, kind of or also to increase damage, I believe later on, correct?
Tau
Yeah, that's right. Yeah. So for folks who aren't maybe necessarily familiar with Hades, the video game you don't necessarily have to be, but in it, you know, there's like, essentially three major functions you can do: you can do attacks, you can do special abilities, or you can do casting, very akin to spell casting. So I figured, you know, Casting is a thing that's done a lot in the video game. And casting is obviously something that's done a lot in 5th edition, I kind of wanted those things to be similar. So you know, when you cast in Hades, the video game, you fire out these blood crystals, which can be lodged in enemies and increase the damage they take. And I kind of just wanted that to be something that sorcerers could do as well, because sorcerers, obviously metamagic options. And so they're the class that are very known for bending or breaking the rules of how spells are written in certain ways. And I just wanted there to be another option to do that with that class. So I ended up creating the Chthonic soul. So yeah, you're absolutely right. So the Chthonic casting feature, which creates and lets you use blood crystals is pretty much the primary feature of that class.
Giancarlo
And so I don't know how much we want to get into kind of our whole deals in this right now. But yeah, I think that's the surface level stuff you need to know. If you want alignment, I suppose I'm neutral, good, kind guy. I think all around. We'll see. But yeah, and prior to I guess, when we are going to start this adventure, you could find Rolf previously having worked as a bartender in the House of Hades.
Tau
Yeah. Oh, so that's interesting. I guess I should explain what the premise of this game is. So, like we said, it's set in the same universe as the video game Hades, which we all love, but I didn't want to copy the exact same story of it. And obviously, that's the single player game and I wanted it to be like a D&D multiplayer game. The setting that we're placing the story in, essentially is many years after the events of the original game. Essentially, Hades, the Lord of the house of Hades has gone missing, or has gone off to do something that, you know, most people don't know about. And so, Prince Zagreus the prince of the Underworld, his son, has had to kind of take over the management duties of the underworld. And in so doing, he's also had to vacate his old job, which was to essentially keep trying to escape the Underworld, and thereby test its defenses. So with that job open, that job has now fallen to other people in the Underworld and in the House of Hades, who now have the opportunity to try to make their own escape attempt kind of like Zagreus did with the promise that if they are able to successfully escape, they essentially can just stay on the surface or, go and do whatever they want, and functionally have another shot at life. So that's the premise. So who are the characters, the characters are essentially these wretched shades from the House of Hades who are these lost souls, who, in death, were doing menial, or, you know, demeaning work in the house of Hades, like they weren't really like the center heroes. And then they were kind of promoted to this position for one way or another where they were finally allowed to make their first escape attempt from the Underworld. So you were a bartender?
Giancarlo
Correct.
Tau
Before all this you were a bartender, like in the lounge of the House of Hades?
Giancarlo
Yeah, I think um, and I suppose we'll, we'll discover a little bit more of this through play and as the characters kind of get to know each other, but being a bartender tracks really well with some consistent life experiences he had. And of course, being a Norse person brings very different recipes to the lounge. So I think that was something that a lot of people probably enjoyed. Pretty quiet guy, but also like a great conversationalist, if that's what you want, you know, if he sees you're open to it. And so I think he probably forged at least on the surface level, some some good relationships with a lot of the people coming through the House of Hades.
Tau
Listen, I wish every time I was at a bar, I could strike up a conversation with a man who is 6'7" silver haired, and blue eyed, and with drink. Give me one of those. I think he also said he's 64 which is fine by me. Hell, yeah.
Giancarlo
Yeah. Um, so I mean, I don't know if we want to talk about how we died or anything. But for him, it's I don't think it's a big secret. He just died. He was just old. He died.
Tau
Yeah I mean, I think it's especially old for the time period. So I think you did...you did good.
Giancarlo
Yeah. And which also is an interesting thing, I guess how he's kind of processing that in the afterlife, especially knowing that as a Norse person, the best way to die was in battle. And that's absolutely not what happened to him.
Tau
Yeah. Cool. Well, thank you for sharing that with us. Who wants to go next.
Michael
I can hop on in Hello everyone. This is Michael Pisani coming to you live, as in we've pre recorded this months in advance. I will be portraying the role of Arete Laskaris, a human rogue hailing from Greece. He grew up in an adoptive crime family, the Laskaris Crime Family key rose through the ranks and was betrayed by his adoptive brother and murdered. And that's how I ended up in the Underworld. So I've got some trust issues. I've got some baggage. I am five foot eleven, pale olive skin at the ripe old age of 31. I was murdered, and I am chaotic neutral for those that want to know. And yeah, I'll talk about the Rogue subclass that we've created for this module. The Gravemarker.
Tau
Yeah, tell me about it.
Michael
So, "the gravemarker reigns as the chief dealer of death among its denizens. Rogues of the gravemarker discipline exercise their attunement with the world of the dead through deft maneuvers of the blade and body rather than through magic. But the surely bemusing quality of such technique could easily be mistaken for spell casting." I get some pretty cool abilities. Starting at the third level for my subclass, I get death shroud which allows me to hide in plain sight in almost any locale, which is really cool. And then I get certain other little abilities as I go along called grave marker maneuvers, which can be performed whilst I am Death Shrouded. And I guess we can find out about those as we go along and keep those a little, like nice little surprise for everybody.
Tau
You wouldn't be you wouldn't be a rogue otherwise.
Michael
Yeah, I think that that's a nice quick summary of what's going on with me.
Tau
I love that, short and sweet. Also, what were you doing while you were a lowly wretched shade in the Underworld?
Michael
Before I was promoted to a shade with a face when I was just a faceless shade. I was toiling away in the, in the mines, and making sure that the central heating in hell was going nice and strong.
Tau
And then when you were finally able to become like a level one gravemarker, obviously the story starts at level three. But so you became like a level one grave marker? I mean, I think what we were saying is that before you kind of got the opportunity to like perform your own escape attempt, you were essentially one of the shades charged with stopping other people's escape attempts, right?
Michael
Correct. Yes, I was in charge of torturing the particularly evil souls and making sure that they did not try to escape again.
Tau
And do you think like, maybe when Zagreus was trying to escape do you think he ever fought you?
Michael
Oh, um, I think we did cross paths a couple of times. And I just thought I would give him a look and go, you dirty rascal, you.
Tau
I don't want to spoil too much. But I'll say when we first meet Arete the beginning of the story. He will just be in the middle of doing something shady. That's all we know.
Michael
The shady shade.
Tau
Yeah, I'm very, very excited to see what it is. Can we hear about Annie?
Amanda
Yeah, sure. So Hi, I'm Amanda Costa, and I will be playing as Anastasia Pantazis. Also known as Annie, she goes by Annie, she is a level three Bard. She comes from, or studied from more the College of Mysteries directly under Orpheus I believe we agreed on.
Tau
Yeah, so what is the College of Mysteries?
Amanda
So, "the bards from the College of Mysteries are the envy of those from many other colleges thanks to their initiation into the secret rites practiced by worshipers of the gods. Their prized status as privy to the stories of the greatest heroes both mortal and divine alike lends their storytelling, tremendous gravity and spectacle. It is said that some bards are welcomed into the College by the legendary Orpheus himself, who imparts the grandest epics only to the most dedicated and...prod...prodig...
Tau
Prodigious.
Amanda
Thank you, I just can't pronounce it. "...of his students. A Bard of the College of Mysteries is not only a virtuoso musician, but a master of showmanship and entertainment."
Tau
Uh, "entrainment."
Amanda
Entrainment, I'm dyslexic.
Tau
That's totally okay. I mean, also entertainment. Great. So entrainment is essentially bringing other people into following you.
Amanda
Brilliant. That makes sense. Yeah. So Amanda personally never really does. She tends to not stray far from like the Ranger path. Since high school, she just doesn't because she's scared. But I love Hades. I love the video game Hades. I really enjoyed it when we played it. And it was a pleasure, you know, to have Tau come on when we were reviewing it on Should I Buy and I'm really glad that this whole idea came up and that we're actually going through that. I think it's really cool. So yeah, and she is definitely very much, as a bard also, is just very much into Greek mythology and believes that like the stories are very important for people to know because it tells us where we came from, and you know where we might be going and helps us along the way. But if we're talking about how we died and all this stuff...
Tau
If you want, you don't have to share if you're if you don't.
Giancarlo
Crushed by a piano!
Amanda
No, we could. Yeah, I could totally share. I have no problem with it. Um, so yeah, Annie has always been into music and she plays specifically the viol. I believe she also dabbled in like some drums and the lyre, "lear-uh," or however you want to pronounce it. Honestly, it was so long ago. So her parents weren't really supportive of the whole music, artsy kind of vibe, which is, you know, classic, classic, even back then, mostly because they didn't really understand it. And they found it more like frustrating and annoying, more than anything else, really. And Annie was just always really entranced by music personality wise, she's kind of like a mix of, if you know the game, of Dusa. And if you know, Harry Potter, Luna Lovegood, it's somewhere kind of there.
Tau
I love that combination so much.
Amanda
So she's kind of always been like in her own head, but she's always hearing this music. And then there was a point in her life where she stopped hearing the music. And she really didn't understand what that was. As us, as Amanda that easily describes it as basically like going through a bout of depression, and not knowing how to deal with it or understand it. But as Annie, Annie believed that she stopped hearing the music, that means her time is up. Like she's okay. Like, I guess I have nothing left. There's, I'm done. And she told this, she shared this with her parents. And her parents led her to believe that that is a real thing, not hearing the music anymore means you're done being alive, and it is your time to go. And so she, Annie did, she did commit suicide.
Tau
That's very Greek.
Amanda
It's very it is. It's quite Greek. Um, she did end up killing herself. And upon entering Hades, the House of Hades and all this stuff and being a shade, she did get to apprentice under Orpheus and, you know, also just kind of assist him in matters around the House and music. And she learned a lot from him. But I think the most important thing that she learned from Orpheus was that not hearing the music is a very natural thing, it happens. It's basically just a form of, let's say, like a writer's block, or something like that is like kind of an equivalent. And so, training under Orpheus, she learned that and she learned how to get past it and learned how, even if there are moments where you're not constantly creating or you're not constantly hearing this music, that's okay. It will come again. You just, people manage it differently. So yeah, so she learned that from Orpheus and obviously a lot more about music in general. And so knowing that she would really, she would actually really like to go back to the land of the living to go back in and do all the things that she didn't really get to do, you know, and one of her dreams is to like, meet the Muses and perform with them and write music for them and all that nonsense. So.
Tau
I love that. That's so beautiful. I'm so so excited to see how that story plays out. I think we have one more party member.
Nicholas
Hello, I'm Nicholas Benetatos. And I'm going to be playing Alexander the Great. The actual historical figure. And I can, I just hope I can do him justice.
Tau
Well his estate is going to be very displeased if you don't. Colin Farrel's gonna call you up and be like, what the fuck man?
Nicholas
Well, Alexander the Great, the brilliant general whose thirst for conquest could never be quenched. That will be me. He died at the ripe old age of 33. So he's gonna be probably, I don't know how old everybody else is, but.
Michael
31.
Nicholas
Younger than Rolf there, I decided to make him a paladin because that's fun. I think it's perfect cuz we have the Greek gods to play with. So I'm going to be serving them.
Tau
How did the Greek gods play with this Paladin?
Nicholas
Mechanically?
Michael
Spiritually.
Giancarlo
Sexually?
Amanda
Oh, my God.
Nicholas
I know that Alex, well was reading for...
Michael
Alexander. I'm very excited to explore his homosexual side. Just Personally, I would like to express that.
Tau
Oh, yeah, we talked about that.
Nicholas
Yeah, we talked about that for sure. Yeah, so like family wise I was looking into, they believe that his mom's side is descendants of Achilles. He believes that his father's side is descendants of Hercules. By the end of his life, Alexander himself believes that he's the son of God. Of Zeus. Sorry, not God. Son of Zeus. Apparently a lightning bolt struck his mom's womb and he was born.
Tau
"Lightning Bolt." Quote-unquote.
Nicholas
Yeah. So, a little bit loopy at the end, I guess...or not.
Tau
So everybody else in the Underworld was like this wretched shade whohad to kind of do this like lowly work. And we know that heroes and like very famous warriors typically get sent to Elysium rather than Tartarus. So what happened to Alexander?
Nicholas
Alexander, we have a mishap right? A...what did you call it?
Tau
Clerical error?
Nicholas
So he ends up being brought to an area I suppose where there are training grounds for the heroes where he becomes pretty much the dummy, the target dummy to be whacked upon. And it was I believe, we decided Achilles he, he fought back against Achilles and impressed Zagreus. Yeah. And he has been promoted because of that. But yeah, for...Alexander's a little upset because he believed that you know, he was a hero of his time. And is confused. He's like, I thought I did what you want me to, Gods, and you put me here so.
Tau
So he would like to speak to the manager?
Nicholas
Yeah, he's gonna go Karen. He's gonna go very Karen.
Giancarlo
Wait, can we just make Alexander the Great like full Karen all the time?
Tau
Honestly that would be excellent. So what is Alexander's relationship with the gods mechanically in the game? Yeah,
Nicholas
We have Oath of the Divine created by Tau Zaman. You are basically the servants of the God your goal is to try and please all of them as best as you can. You may not be able to and if you can't, you're a failure. No pressure. Yeah, no pressure. I love these abilities that I have here. I mean, you get your oath spells. I don't believe you created any.
Tau
Yeah, so they're all pretty much like regular oath spells. However, the spell list that is created is pretty much unique from any other oath spell list. And that it's meant to kind of give you this really like divine flavor. So like, what are those spells look like?
Nicholas
I'll be starting with bless and divine favor.
Tau
So you get both spells. And then you also get a Channel Divinity.
Nicholas
Yes, Channel Divinity, where you choose between Holy Bulwark, essentially, you get to add AC to yourself, or you can spread it around with other people in your party. So you get a one AC, you get a one AC, you wanted to get one AC or I give all three AC to myself. That's cool. And that's for one minute, but one minute in D&D is 10 rounds.
Tau
It's a hella long time.
Nicholas
I'm very pleased with that. I could choose between that or Intercession, can get a plus 10 bonus for saving throws with wisdom or charisma. So I probably should have picked that instead. Because my rolls are always like twos and threes.
Tau
You get the option with Channel Divinity. So you can do either.
Nicholas
Cool, and then you'd have to recharge right once you've...to have to channel again.
Tau
That's right. And then your later paladin, higher level paladin abilities are basically more about turning you into a demigod essentially right?
Nicholas
Hopefully becoming a Greek mythological hero himself. Alexander the Great.
Giancarlo
Yeah, Alexander the Greater.
Nicholas
The greatest.
Tau
I love that. Oh, yeah. So I guess I didn't do an actual introduction. Yeah, so my name is Tau Zaman, I'm going to be serving as the dungeon master for this story. I created most of the rule sets and Hades themed encounters and abilities for this story. And I'm also going to be playing pretty much the rest of the NPCs. So the various deities and Chthonic Underworld denizens that the party meets along the way. So very excited about that, then, it's very inspired by the video game, but I also wanted it to kind of be its own story. So there are going to be many, many more deities that I think you might have encountered in the game. And there will, there will certainly be more obscure Greek figures and NPCs, that you maybe didn't have a chance to meet in the game, or you literally can't meet the game. Because if there's a very large, beautiful story to tell, you know, with kind of all the different aspects of Greek mythology, and so I'm very, very pumped about that. So as we tie the story together now that you guys have kind of heard each other's, you know, names and what they're about and their histories and their abilities and kind of what their role was in the house of Hades. We kind of can talk a little bit about how the adventure starts off and like. Do you guys know each other like, what are your relationships to each other? What does that look like? So I'll tell you the way the story like session one starts, is basically all of you kind of convene in this in the courtyard that Zagreus used to escape from, and you all start your escape together as something called an Olympiad. So the teams have wretched shades that have been promoted, that are all trying to escape, are sorted into teams of four called Olympiads, and you are one Olympiad that is just trying to escape before the other Olympiads can and the deal is essentially this: if you get if you get out, all of you get out So it's not like one of you makes it and you know, the rest of you don't get to live. So all of you get to get another shot at life if you win. So that's the kind of benefit there. So how do you guys team up?
Amanda
I would assume that probably most of us know about like, Rolf just because he works, you know, as a bartender and all this stuff. I'm sure we've seen him the most, I think, out of the rest of us.
Giancarlo
And he would say, at least that feels about right to me as well.
Amanda
Yeah. And he's at least most familiar. I don't know about Alex...
Nicholas
I don't think I would know any of you.
Amanda
That's fair. That's also very fair.
Michael
And I think I would sit in the corner of the bar. So I don't think, I'm not very sociable. So I I've probably seen maybe Annie in passing, but I know Rolf, because you talk to the bartender when you're a loner.
Amanda
Yeah.
Giancarlo
Would you have like actual conversations? Or would it be like my drink? And I'm done.
Michael
I think it might be more one sided. I mean, I don't know how your personality all that well, yet. So like, I don't know, if you're more of like a talkative bartender that's like, kind of happy to like just kind of chat or if you're like, looking for more of like a conversation back and forth. Because I don't think I'd be that willing to give like a back and forth conversation
Giancarlo
Because from what I'm hearing, cuz I'm always, you know, just trying to figure out where kind of my character falls with all of you. Annie seems to be like the most friendly of the party potentially as as a bard.
Tau
And she's also most commonly seen in the center of the House, right? Cuz that's where Orpheus is.
Giancarlo
Exactly. So at least on my end, I feel like maybe Annie and I could be friends already. Like if he would be down to talk to me. But otherwise, like, I don't think Rolf would go out of his way to, like, force a conversation on someone, like if, you know, if you just want your drink, he's just going to give you a drink and leave it at that.
Amanda
Sure. No, I can definitely agree with that. I will say that Annie. Originally, I was gonna say 27 because 27 is that age for musicians? But then I was like, nah, and then I made it 17 there we so I think any would definitely sit at the bar, but she would not drink like a drink-drink. She would just ask for...
Giancarlo
A milk. I just give you chocolate milk.
Amanda
Yeah, honestly, I think she'd be very—
Tau
Because you know, what the Greeks were great at was carding people. And saying, you know, you're too young for this. That was really what we knew them for.
Amanda
Especially when they're dead?
Tau
Protecting the innocence of youth.
Amanda
But yeah, no, I definitely think Annie would enjoy his conversation. 100% and is open to always talking to really anyone. So I'm sure she's at least waved or made eye contact with. Arete?
Michael
Yes.
Amanda
So didn't necessarily get anything back. But it's totally okay with that. She's just that's just who she is, I would say.
Tau
So Alexander was a training dummy. But I don't think he has to be like forever right? So I mean, now that you've been training like as a level one and level two Paladin, you've definitely been seen around.
Nicholas
I was planning to make Alex like stoic but hopefully not too silent since it is an audio only platform.
Tau
I would also like that. Do people know that he is Alexander the Great? Or is that something he tries to keep under wraps?
Nicholas
Yeah, depends when y'all were alive. I guess. Who's out here in 350 BC, like, chillin' hard?
Giancarlo
Oh, man, you were just past my time. I didn't really watch your dynasties.
Nicholas
Watch his documentary.
Giancarlo
Rolf is from the year 3022. Vikings come back in the future?
Nicholas
I just have no, I don't know how he could see Rolf, outside of Hades for sure.
Michael
Yeah, I don't know where I know that my adoptive family, at least my traitor brother and my adoptive mother are both still alive. So the timelines in terms of like, years? I haven't been down here all that long then because they're still alive. But I don't know. Like, what time it is down here necessarily for me to be able to be like, oh, yeah, I came from the same period as Alexander the Great. I know who that is. So I have, I don't know.
Tau
Sure. So one of the very, very characteristic things about the Underworld, is that the passage of time is extremely dubious.
Nicholas
Oh that's right! They know the past and the future? That's right .
Tau
And also, you're exactly right. So people see echoes of the past and they also see manifestations of the future there. So it is very, very hard to know what time it is like not just time period, but even like what time of day it is because it's basically just like always dark in the underworld. So that's so that's one important thing to know.
Nicholas
You guys probably would know.
Michael
Yeah. Yeah. I would say I would know who Alexander the Great is, I think I would probably admire his militarism and his like ability as like a General and I think I would have a respect for that.
Tau
I love that.
Giancarlo
I have two like super important questions for Tau since we're forming in the Olympiad, would we have formed like up before already assuming you know, we got promoted at level one and we're now level three would we have already been working together? And then for Michael, what would your typical order be like?
Michael
Drink order. Oh, gosh. Hmm. It just jumped into my mind but I think a French 75.
Tau
Get on it Rolf. Also, I don't know if this is for anyone else but Giancarlo's just frozen for me.
Michael
Looking at me just like, Really? That's the drink you decided to go with.
Amanda
Yeah. I'm like damn, okay.
Michael
Cuz I think like, I don't know, I think Arete is a very complex guy. I think and I think a French 75 is, is seen as more of like a, as a girly cocktail. But I don't know. I just love the idea of like, of like a soldier having like a typically feminine cocktail.
Tau
I think people who put their lives on the line all the time have an appreciation for the finer things, right?
Michael
Yeah, absolutely. And he's back.
Tau
There he is.
Giancarlo
Sorry all!
Nicholas
Your face was frozen with the most disappointed look when he said his drink.
Giancarlo
I didn't hear any of it.
Tau
Oh, Michael was like, I think my drink would be a French 75. And you were locked, like permanent, like Olivia Pope side-eye.
Michael
But yes, my drink would be a French 75.
Giancarlo
Okay, good to know. Cool.
Tau
So to speak to your other que—could you repeat your other question Giancarlo?
Giancarlo
Sure. I just wanted to know, since we are going to be an Olympiad, you know, essentially working together. And presumably, we were promoted at the D&D level one and started working together up until now, level three being our first official escape attempt. Would we have interacted with each other in that like preparation? Or are we first being introduced to each other, like, officially, right before our escape attempt.
Tau
So here is my proposal. And let me know if this works, because this can be very easily modified. So basically, when you were promoted from you know, being a wretched shade, you were finally like given back the body that you had, you know, when you died, right, so you're not only that kind of like formless shift, like shapeless, you know, shade, but you like kind of look like whatever you looked like, have whatever capabilities you had when you died. And then that's like, you're at level one. And then as an Olympiad, now hearing how you guys would know each other or not know each other. Let me tell me if this potentially works as a solution to get you guys all together, which is that when Zagreus puts forth this decree, he essentially drops off just a giant bag of gems at the house contractor and the house contractor basically just draws up the most, like promising shades in the House of Hades and just sorts them into groups of four. And so you guys got sorted into a group of four. So you guys all know that you're in the same Olympiad. It is up to you with how much you want to interact or train together. But training is what you have been doing to get to level three for your escape attempt, which begins today.
Giancarlo
Got you. So we would have to be sent like we would have to seek each other out. Like it's not like we were rounded up together and told, hey, look around you. These are your friends.
Tau
And I mean, it's in your interest to, right, because these people are your shot at another chance at life.
Giancarlo
Absolutely.
Michael
In terms of my motivations to get out of the Underworld, I think, yeah, it makes sense to me. Yeah. I don't know if I trust everyone, but I definitely am working with everyone.
Tau
That's okay. Yeah, I mean, that's what I wanted this session zero to be is really just like, look, here's us working it out in real time, like laying the foundation for how the story can like piece together and like, what the premise is, and all that. Do we have any other like questions, things we want to talk about or share?
Nicholas
As a human, I get a bonus language and as a noble, I get another bonus language.
Tau
Excellent. Which ones did you pick?
Nicholas
I guess common and Greek.
Tau
So we're gonna treat Greek as common for this.
Nicholas
Great, then I don't know what to make the other two.
Giancarlo
Yeah, I'm going Greek and Norse. Because, yeah.
Tau
I love that.
Michael
Yeah. I assumed common would be Greek. So I did. Yeah, that was my thinking there. And then my secondary language I picked minotaur.
Tau
Uh, that is awesome, I love that.
Amanda
I saw that. I was like, hell yeah.
Michael
I was like, that's gonna come up.
Tau
Yeah. So the, the way that I'm gonna make that work because basically, whatever like languages you pick, I'm going to find ways for that to come up in your adventures eventually. So you don't have to feel like, you can't go wrong with picking any of the languages.
Michael
Also for the record. I said in my little introduction that I grew up in the Laskaris crime family, Laskaris is actually my birth last name. It's the Enklima family that adopted me. So just wanted to, just wanted to write that wrong.
Tau
Hear that everybody, hold us to it.
Nicholas
Study up.
Tau
That is not a thing. I will fuck up at all. Oh, can we swear on this?
Giancarlo
Yeah!
Nicholas
I would hope so.
Tau
Okay, I'm sure. All right. Cool. I'm very excited. I guess like content warnings for the adventure. There will be a lot of like, violence and dying and depression and talk about serious issues. I would say, I would say, I would say it's about as serious as the game Hades, maybe slightly moreso. But not by a whole lot. And I think there will also be a lot of silliness.
Giancarlo
I mean, look at who you're playing with
Nicholas
As dark and depressing as the mythology itself.
Tau
Yeah, I mean, there is some dark ass shit in the mythology that I want to handle, like sensitively, at the very least. So I think the way Greek mythology is written. It's very, like matter of fact, in a way that I think it's kind of awful sometimes. I don't know. I'll do my best with it. And you can hold me accountable about it. Okay. I think that covers everything. Does that wrap our session zero?
Giancarlo
I think so. I guess I just want to say thank you Tau for taking this on. I'm so glad this is coming to fruition.
Amanda
Oh my gosh, I'm so hype.
Giancarlo
Thanks to you guys. I can't wait to play with you and start getting these sessions out. And thanks, everyone who's listening. But I'm very excited to get started with our journey In the Blood.
Tau
Yeah, thank you so much for having me. I have not slept yet. And I am just like, vibrating with how excited I am about this. But I'm also very tired. So yeah, this is gonna be quite the adventure and yeah, just like Hades: it's a marathon, not a sprint. So, yeah, buckle in for a wild ride. And yeah, that's our session zero. I've been Tau Zaman. You've all been...
Giancarlo
Giancarlo Herrera.
Michael
Michael Pisani.
Amanda
Amanda Facosta.
Nicholas
And Nicolas Benetatos.
Giancarlo
And we'll talk at you real soon. Goodbye.
Tau
Thanks for checking out Episode Zero. I hope you'll jump right into the action by checking out Episodes 1 and 2 which are already out now. Some credits for this episode. Our cover art is by Chandler Candela. Sound design and editing by Giancarlo Herrera. Title music by Sage GC with vocals by Jessica Dahlgren and Sage GC. I think that covers it. Start running with us. Episode 1! It's out now! Go go go!
[SFX: Title music.] "Escape...escape...escape...escape..."