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The Adventure Zone

The Adventure Zone Royale: Episode 23

30 Apr 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What happens as the zombie horde attacks the house?

0.031 - 18.093 Justin McElroy

Hello, my friends. It's Justin Tyler McElroy. These are my brothers. Their names escape me. Help me out, guys. It's Travis Chunwell. Welcome to the Adventure Zone. Our dad is not here with us, but you are, and it is the MaxFunDrive, which means right now, if you like our stuff, go to MaximumFun.org forward slash join.

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19.054 - 25.161 Justin McElroy

If you can chip in five bucks a month, you can help keep this show rolling, and we'd really appreciate it. We sure would.

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25.141 - 43.901 Travis McElroy

You get access to a bunch of bonus content when you do that, including this year's BOCO for Taz. A new entry in the Taz Charlie-verse world. Actually, Taz Cousin-verse, where five of our six kids got together to plan a one-shot for us. It's darling. It's madcap. And it can be yours, along with a suite of other bonus items.

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44.261 - 58.759 Justin McElroy

So you can go sign up and become a new member. You can upgrade your membership or even just boost by a couple dollars if you're not ready to move to the next level. It's all there. Maximumfund.org slash join. Let's get to the episode. Previously on Taz Royale.

0

58.779 - 59.26

Duba.

59.28 - 67.472 Unknown

Yes? We're very close to the end of it now, Duba. You play yourself a jaunty little tune in case the noises get too upsetting.

67.712 - 76.004 Justin McElroy

Listen, I gotta go. Those bugs are to protect you. Later! Wait, no, hold on. I saved your life, man. You owe me.

76.705 - 104.558 Travis McElroy

Fine. It's an antidote. I don't know to what, but there's probably a reason it's here. then he turns around very quickly and starts to charge downward down the hallway as he screams even louder run as another corpse mound a horde of zombies begins to pour into the room ready to eat your whole body and ass so

132.432 - 153.58 Justin McElroy

I was thinking this morning as we were getting ready to record, when we stop doing this, I'm really going to miss this character. I love doing this guy. This guy makes me so happy. I get excited when we're going to sit down and record because I love this guy.

Chapter 2: How do the characters react to the necromancy trial?

371.007 - 383.272 Travis McElroy

Loravith, what do you do? The door's shut. The door is shut, yes. The blob's trying to get through the door to Burgerman. Yeah, it is a mound of corpses. It's not like a slime situation.

0

383.753 - 384.574 Justin McElroy

I know, okay.

0

384.814 - 386.116 Travis McElroy

Sorry, I didn't. You get it, though.

0

386.337 - 387.799 Justin McElroy

I didn't call your blob the right thing.

0

387.919 - 390.743 Travis McElroy

Our words are all we have, Justin.

391.324 - 400.889 Justin McElroy

Literally. No, Griffin, your words are all you have. I carry a knife all the time. That's true. And I got big muscles. I'm watching. I'm watching for a second. Yeah, dude.

401.009 - 425.176 Travis McElroy

That's a totally fine answer to this situation. What are they doing? What is the mound doing? They're smashing against the door. Give me a... Like a blob against the door. Like a blob would do against the door. Give me a perception check. I'll give you advantage. You have a nice vantage point here on the ceiling. 13 and a nine. 13.

425.396 - 441.818 Travis McElroy

It's not going to take them long before they are able to smash in this door. It is already starting to rattle off the hinges and creak and crack in the center of its big wooden frame. With that perception check, you can also hear Burgerman just screaming from inside.

442.279 - 443.22 Justin McElroy

He's in a real pickle.

Chapter 3: What strategies do the characters use to survive the onslaught?

651.104 - 657.012 Justin McElroy

I'm big. For 10 minutes, I'm big. I have advantage on strength checks and my speed increases by 10 feet.

0

656.992 - 675.675 Travis McElroy

All right, cool. You stand up from the pile of corpses you have just kind of dispersed a bit, and you are now considerably larger. You also have a plus five to your AC, which is great. Because of their diminished size, they are not going to make three attacks against you. They are only gonna make two. I'm gonna roll this on the table.

0

675.655 - 693.833 Justin McElroy

And it is worth noting that it also, because of my hill's tumble, it has received the prone condition from me. Now, I don't know how a big mound of bodies goes prone. But it's not like bowling pins. So it's not leaping into an attack. It's got to take a second to recombobulate.

0

693.813 - 714.928 Travis McElroy

Yeah, I mean, they'll spend their move action to stand up, but you also landed in them, so they're not having to move particularly far. Okay, so the first thing that happens is one of these zombies lurches upwards and tries to sink its teeth into your shoulder. What's your AC? What number am I trying to beat here? You really don't want these guys to beat you. Oh, you'll never.

0

715.068 - 717.224 Travis McElroy

You'll never beat nine. It's a nine plus five.

717.244 - 718.206 Justin McElroy

You'll never be nine.

718.486 - 736.616 Travis McElroy

So 14. Wait, hold on. Plus my shield. Oh, I'm not sure. That's not going to matter, my man. That is a 19 plus two. Plus my shield, Griffin. Nine plus five is 14. We've covered this. That is a 21. Okay.

737.177 - 756.45 Justin McElroy

Your AC is nine? Yeah. I mean, I don't know. That's what Griffin said. I'm a wizard. I mean, why does a wizard need better AC than nine? You're a big old dude. I don't know, man. It's been nine the whole time. But can I just say, it could have been a lot higher and I still would have taken a beating there. Yeah, that's a big hit.

757.271 - 758.313 Travis McElroy

Okay, so.

Chapter 4: How does the use of magic influence the battle dynamics?

967.36 - 968.661 Hellgrammit

Rick just yells after him.

0

970.083 - 987.36 Travis McElroy

Scorpa just sighs as Halgrammett bails on them. Okay, I will say that you will be able to make it all the way to the library. I don't think that there is a path you can cut that does not go through haze and blaze. Unless you're lying and you don't actually want to go to the library.

0

987.38 - 987.88 Hellgrammit

I thought they were dead.

0

988.332 - 996.28 Travis McElroy

No. Well, they're all zombies, Dad, so in a way. I believe it was Raze and the other one, Frasier.

0

996.3 - 996.66 Hellgrammit

Days?

997.461 - 1015.318 Travis McElroy

Days, yes, that have been killed. Blaze and Haze are both kind of just sort of very slowly crawling, chasing after Rictus. So unless you want to attempt some sort of maneuver here to kind of get around them, they're right flat in the center of the room. They will get opportunity attacks on you if you want to try to make it to the library in one turn.

1019.028 - 1027.866 Justin McElroy

Hey, Griffin, that's not fair. That's not fair. Dad thought they were dead. Yeah. Griffin may come dead.

1028.647 - 1048.354 Hellgrammit

No. Okay. So I'm going to use Misty Step. Okay. Okay. With Misty Step, I can teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space I can see. Easy, yeah.

1049.056 - 1073.356 Travis McElroy

So I'm going to teleport to the door. Yeah, easy. You can for sure make that. That is no problem. You see Blaze and Haze reach up towards you. And you just kind of effortlessly vanish and reappear behind them. They turn and they look back at you. And then they decide that's not worth it. They still have their eyes set on Rictus, and they continue their crawling.

Chapter 5: What is the significance of the red symbol in the office?

1325.056 - 1356.556 Travis McElroy

13 plus 5, 18. Okay. With an 18, as you are sort of pulled through the edge of this bubble, looking back into it, you see a very, very faint image of a tall humanoid figure wearing a sort of tattered cloak. You realize as you are pulled out of this bubble, inside of there, you can see this – entity that has called itself death that you have communed with a couple of times in the past.

0

1356.757 - 1380.51 Travis McElroy

He doesn't appear to be moving. He doesn't appear to be like completely all there. The image is like fairly staticky. But as you're sort of pulled outward, And the bubble dissipates. You do witness that. Franklin gives you a little sort of violent shake. He is a he is an orangutan. He he's very, very strong. And you managed to come to your senses.

0

1381.051 - 1395.508 Travis McElroy

And as you do, you see that time has passed as you were in here. The Corpse Mound has caught up to Scorpo, who is attempting to sort of hold off the crowd, the Corpse Mound. I'll give you another action here, since that one is.

0

1395.528 - 1416.391 Justin McElroy

Okay, option B. I run to Scorpo. Okay. And grab him. Okay. And cast Thunderstab. Okay, cool. You can move other things with Thunderstep? Yeah, you can move somebody, blah, blah, blah. You can also teleport one willing creature of your size or smaller.

0

1417.413 - 1424.303 Justin McElroy

They must be within five feet of you when you cast a spell, and there must be an unoccupied feet within five feet of your destination space for the creature to appear in.

1425.104 - 1428.529 Travis McElroy

Are you just sort of grabbing him and pulling him away from the corpse mound?

1429.19 - 1437.061 Justin McElroy

I'm grabbing him, and then we are going to Thunderstep next to Franklin by the door to the dining room.

1437.081 - 1440.986 Travis McElroy

Okay, cool. And the corpse round is going to take some damage here, right? Correct. Or they have to roll something.

1442.408 - 1446.252 Justin McElroy

They have to make a con save, beat a 14. Okay.

Chapter 6: How do the characters plan their next moves after the chaos?

1662.421 - 1677.894 Justin McElroy

What's the smell like in there, Griffin? Not great. Well, okay. Fine, Burger Man. Have it your way. I climb up the wall. Spider climb.

0

1678.516 - 1682.606 Travis McElroy

Okay. All right, you're just leaning.

0

1682.626 - 1693.567 Justin McElroy

That's my one advantage that I have is I can climb up fucking walls because I'm still under the influence of spider climb. So I'm going to climb away because I can't. This thing will kill me, and I don't want to die. No one will protect Duber.

0

1694.008 - 1722.225 Travis McElroy

Yeah, absolutely. Okay, you hop up onto the nearest shelf, scale upwards back towards the ceiling. The zombies, you notice, are still kind of fixated on you. After having come down and jumped down and smashed a few of these guys, their ire has been drawn towards you. So as you climb, they are kind of trying to fruitlessly scale the shelves behind you.

0

1722.525 - 1737.863 Justin McElroy

Oh, and they're slippery, too. I bet it looks so stupid. They're really slippery. They look like total dorks. They have grease all over them from the spill. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you are able to... Even with their super well-defined muscles and gray hair. This is what I planned. I'm luring them away to save Burger Man's life.

1738.504 - 1761.671 Travis McElroy

I will say that is an easy thing for you to do with your spider climbing and their greasiness. As you move up around the wall, the corpse mound kind of just shambles and slips and slops away. And you are able to get them... out away from the door. As soon as they are clear from the door, you see Burger Man smash through the door behind them.

1761.711 - 1784.835 Travis McElroy

He looks at you, looks at the corpse mound, looks back up at you at the ceiling, and then he is going to bolt for this sort of rear door to the outside away from you and the corpse mound, running and shrieking and leaving a trail of grease behind him as he hoofs it. out of sight, leaving the door to the office now open with the red rune visible inside.

1785.456 - 1786.077 Rictus

What do you do?

1788.699 - 1799.11 Justin McElroy

I mean, I don't think I can... Okay, well, let me ask you. I feel like I've done an action and done a move, so... We're not in initiative right now, so we're having some liberties. But he's clocking me still?

Chapter 7: What challenges do the characters face on the second floor?

1994.07 - 1996.354 Travis McElroy

So this symbol.

0

1996.434 - 1997.676 Unknown

This is why I think there's a cape.

0

1998.618 - 2026.285 Travis McElroy

This symbol you've never seen before, but it is magic and that must mean cape. So you've never felt more certain of anything in your life than the fact that when you step into this symbol, something's gonna happen to you. I step into it and I accept my cape. Yeah, you step into the circle. As you step into the circle, it flashes bright red. The cape must be invisible.

0

2026.305 - 2057.063 Travis McElroy

The cape must be one of those invisible, weightless, intangible capes. But it's there, it's like your own invisible cape, like in that movie Crash. And you step in and there is a flash of red light from the symbol. And as that red light flashes, you hear the corpse mound outside begin to get whipped into a frenzy. Cape, cape, cape, cape, cape.

0

2057.228 - 2070.075 Travis McElroy

The symbol disappears and you hear a loud whining hum emit through the first floor of the house as the barriers separating. the first and second floor dissipate.

2070.556 - 2084.333 Travis McElroy

The other thing that you can see now through this like sloppy pile of corpses that has approached the door to the office now, behind them on the other end of the library, some of the shelves appear to be kind of nested inside one another.

2084.353 - 2095.487 Travis McElroy

They slide out away from each other, forming a stairway up to a balcony overlooking the library up on the second floor that has appeared as you have removed this seal.

2095.467 - 2097.27 Justin McElroy

So that's another way up to the second floor?

2097.89 - 2118.68 Travis McElroy

Yes, there are now a few ways up to the second floor. You can see there's, let me use my ping tool. There's this guy here on the west side. There's basically the main foyer entrance. There's one to the north and then one in the library and one in the servant quarters past the now two giant piles of zombies that are creeping through there.

Chapter 8: How does the episode conclude with the characters' fates?

2407.418 - 2417.496 Travis McElroy

And the rest of it goes directly to the shows that you pick to support. It is an incredibly direct way of keeping stuff that you like going in the world.

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2417.476 - 2440.982 Justin McElroy

And there's all kinds of thank you gifts for becoming a member or upgrading your membership. For just $5 a month, you get access to hundreds and hundreds of hours of bonus content. That can't be right, Travis. It is because it's not just for all of the big services. And I, I, There's just no way it's such an incredible value. Oh, it is, Justin, because it's not just this year's bonus content.

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2441.142 - 2464.35 Justin McElroy

It's every year of Max Fund Drive ever's bonus content, including this year for Taz. Like we said at the beginning, we did another Cousinverse, but we have Taz Lords of Crunch, a Taz episode we recorded with Matt Mercer, the full Charlieverse catalog, all kinds of other stuff, including we've been putting live shows up there early. before they get published to the main feed.

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2464.39 - 2474.806 Justin McElroy

That's a benefit to being a MaxFun member. And all the other shows on MaxFun put bonus content up in that feed too, and you get access to all of it for just $5 a month.

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2475.107 - 2497.097 Travis McElroy

If you jump up to $10 a month, you get an enamel pin from the show of your choosing. This year's design for us is a beautiful little duper sweet leaf. But you also get access to ad-free feeds for most of the shows on the network. including this one. So if that is something that is important to you, you can get access to that as well by going to MaximumFun.org slash join.

2497.538 - 2517.801 Travis McElroy

We are pretty well behind pace at this point. If you're listening to this on release day, we have not even hit the halfway point of where we were hoping to be at during this year's drive. So we really could use the help now pretty desperately. So please, MaximumFun.org slash join. Go ahead and pick the level that works for you and

2517.781 - 2528.717 Travis McElroy

you're gonna get a ton of great stuff and the great feeling of knowing that you're helping keep us and an organization as rad as Maximum Fun afloat for another year.

2528.737 - 2544.48 Justin McElroy

And like we said, it's not just the new members that count towards our goal. It's also upgrading members. Maybe you've been $5 for a long time and you're like, you know what, I'm ready to move up to $10 or $20 or whatever. Or maybe you're like, I wish I could move up to the next level, but I'm not ready yet.

2544.46 - 2558.477 Justin McElroy

Well, you can become a boosting member by just committing an extra like dollar or two or whatever a month that you can do. All of that counts towards our goals. All of it is appreciated. Any support we get is appreciated. Really, all of that can be done at MaximumFun.org slash join.

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