From left to right: Umi Tormenta, Vaeri, Zara, Revlis, Terryn Zabi, and Madeline
Steel and Silence and its predecessor series Death and Debts are the two parts of an Actual Play web video series, in which members of VShojo and other associated Virtual Youtubers play in a Dungeons & Dragons campaign run by Arcadum. The campaign is set in The Living World of Verum.
Six adventurers answer the call of Baba Yaga, the Witch Queen, to Witchtown to help solve the problems of Dolten. They infiltrate a ball in order to find a traitor selling the secrets of Dolten to foreign nations, leading to the group investigating a mystery and collecting nipples.
After these events, the adventurers are invited to Camp Last Stand and informed about the threat of the Violet. They are then tasked with seeking out the Lord of Blades and providing him assistance.
Session 0 of Death and Debts was streamed on July 29th, 2020, a playlist of the campaign itself can be found here
, and the last episode was streamed on November 11th, 2020. The first session of the sequel campaign Steel and Silence was streamed December 2, 2020, a playlist of the entire campaign can be found here, and the last episode was streamed on February 11, 2021. The group also took part in the final Crossover Finale involving Arcadum's various campaigns within Kalkatesh taking part in the final battle against the Violet, which took place on March 6, 2021.
Cast
- Arcadum as the Dungeon Master
- ProjektMelody as Terryn Zabi, Changeling Warlock
- Silvervale as Revlis, Tiefling later Half-Succubus Warlock
- Bunny_Gif as Madeline, Wood Elf Rogue
- Ironmouse as Umi Tormenta, Triton Bard
- Momo as Vaeri, Kobold Fighter
- Zentreya as Zara, Red Orc Monk
Character-specific information can be found here.
Death and Debts/Steel and Silence provides examples of:
- Aborted Arc: While still serving for the Laughing Mad, Revlis was confronted by him and given an item to use for later. Revlis ultimately never uses it, switching her services to Babylon after he chose to award her and her friends for giving him a strong soul with the belief that he'd give her great power in return. Whatever happened to the item is never discussed, but it's likely figured it wouldn't be usable with Revlis no longer serving the Laughing Mad.
- Several other player characters at Camp Last Stand had once served under Babylon, and left for good reason. While one character recognized Babylon's brand on Revlis, nothing ever came of it.
- In a later video, Arcadum the dungeon master revealed that Azeatec was a walking story-hook for the party; his very name was a Power Word (hence why calling his name summoned him), and pursuing the storyline would have opened the door to the girls learning Power Words of their own. A combination of missed sessions and the onset of the finale to that era of Verum meant there wasn't even time to pursue the idea.
- Amazon Brigade: The player characters are all female. Ignoring the usual G.I.R.L. accusations that often come with being a female-presenting Virtual Youtuber, their players are as well.
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Anti-Climax Boss: After a long trek through the sewers, fighting racist acolytes, man-eating slimes, deadly traps and a powerful female samurai, the group finally find the murderer they were looking for... who, despite his bravado, nearly dies at the start of Round 2, courtesy of 2 crits by a "battle cocaine"-induced Vaeri and only doesn't due to his "enduring faith" allowing him to stand once more after defeat. Then, after failing to stun Zara and Vaeri with a smoke bomb, he proceeds to strike the former... her Burning Blood then causing his downfall. Yes, he got right back up after defeat only to then be killed by activating another character's passive. Compared to the samurai who managed to have an intense fight with Zara before knocking her and Umi out, the "Quack Man" looked utterly pathetic. Momo sheepishly admitted guilt for killing the boss so quickly. - Big Bad: The Aphotic Indefatigable for "Steel and Silence".
- Bilingual Bonus: Umi's cussing and complaining in "Aquan" is actually Iron Mouse speaking in Spanish (Puerto Rican dialect, to be specific). Arcadum plays along and even learned some Spanish in order to roleplay other Aquatic demons conversing with her in "Aquan".
- Breast Expansion:
- Revlis' "already impressive assets embolden and strengthen" upon making a deal with Babylon for more power and is consequently turned into a part-succubus.
- When Umi undergoes Rapid Aging into her early- to mid-30s, Arcadum refuses to acknowledge whether or not her chest is among the parts of her to "mature", but he does leave that up to Mouse, and she (and everyone else involved) promptly decided that it was.
- Captain Obvious: Poor investigative rolls tend to be accompanied by incredibly obvious and unhelpful observations. These moments most often seem to come from Zara, though the others aren't immune either. Umi in particular is prone to touching fire and learning that, yes, that it is indeed hot.Arcadum: This sword tastes like a sword.
- Clear My Name: In "Death and Debts", the group end up the prime suspects for the murder of Haxtal Vale, under the reasoning that they were the only ones at the party where he was killed that weren't regular attendees, and thus are tasked with proving that someone else was responsible.
- Corner of Woe: Invoked by Revlis whenever Terryn teases her over Daiyo leaving (and claiming she "killed her dog").
- Crossover Finale: "Death and Debts" ended on one of these with the girls' antics having caused them to gain a plot-critical MacGuffin, meet multiple campaigns at once, and joining the frontlines in the war against the Violet, Verum's ancient enemy so dangerous that the gods themselves have set aside their differences in the name of stopping it.
- Deus Exit Machina: The wound of Violet inflicted on the Lord of Blades prior to the group meeting him is the main reason why he has to stay in his cave and rely on the group to handle the tasks he gives for them. As of the end of "Steel and Silence", they've retrieved the means to heal him.
- Developer's Foresight: Arcadum is nothing if not thorough. The closest he's come to being blindsided is when the group asks him about certain... attributes of the NPCs they encounter that he didn't have set up from the start; even in those cases, he did have a system in place to determine the details of those attributes and was able to do so on the spot. Though this is later topped by Terryn doing something so obscure, (Appearing to a man whom assumes he's going to have the "services" of some of the others while transformed as him.) that Arcadum had to wonder for a bit how one would even react.
- On a more-meta level, Arcadum noticeably shifts the games away from combat encounters and more towards social encounters that allow the girls to do more of what they enjoy: messing with NPCs and using their social skills to solve problems. The entirety of Steel and Silence's 8 episodes only have 'one' combat encounter note .
- Dirty Coward: Briefly toyed with in the battle against the Big Bad, when Terryn considers having Azeatec teleport her, and only her, away from the scene, with Melody noting that it would be in-character for Terryn to do so. Subverted in that she ultimately doesn't go through with it, but Terryn did point out that if everyone else died to the Violet Servant and thus all memories of them would be eliminated, she wouldn't even remember them and thus wouldn't feel guilty for it.
- Also invoked by Revlis, who toys with the idea of simply escaping with Shiny before the final fight with the Aphotic Indefatigable.
- The Ditherer: When Babylon tries to unveil Umi's deepest desires, Mouse isn't able to come up with what it could be, though this partially comes from her not trusting him nor wanting to make a deal with the Verum version of the Devil. Arcadum helps out by noting that Umi is having a BSoD, to Babylon's confusion, before moving on.
- When the second boss inflicts a status ailment upon Umi, Mouse takes her time wondering why he did such a thing and to her of all people, but isn't able to come up with an answer for herself and struggles to think of what to do in response. Ultimately, with some guidance from the others, she decides to hide in a nearby room as the effect would only work if he sees her on the next turn.
- Dramatic Unmask: Done by Madeline at the end of "Steel and Silence"; the "dramatic" isn't because her hidden identity is of any particular importance, but because the party are the first ones that she has openly shown her true face to.
- Fastball Special: The first battle in the sewers has Zara chucking Vaeri at the last of the Acolytes, weakening him enough to allow Revlis to finish him off.
- Grand Finale: The final session of "Steel and Silence" on February 10-11, 2021. It revolved entirely around the party's battle with the Aphotic Indefatigable, and included a number of references to earlier parts of the campaign. Mezzleternorta and Shiny aided them in battle, Azeatec and Babylon were summoned to help out, and Zara got to make use of training she had received earlier, among other things.
- Heel Realization: At one point, considering the many things they have done and seen (nipple removal, throwing a baby slime to a crocodile, handing an admittedly very bad attempted dragon slayer over to the Lord of Blades who promptly mind rapes him then pops him like a grape, luring Will O'Wisps in to messily devour three Shattered Star members... then playing in the bloody remains), Terryn wonders "Are we the baddies? I think we might be the baddies". The ladies debate this for a few minutes before Arcadum cuts in. The ladies are very much not evil, but they are definitely chaotic.
- Horned Humanoid: Revlis, Umi, Vaeri, and Zara all have them, with Revlis' having grown longer upon becoming part-succubus.
- I Didn't Mean to Turn You On: Umi and Zara have done this, the former by telling off someone who had suddenly pulled a half-orc poet she was talking with away from their conversation and thus unintentionally performing what said poet considered an intense romantic act, and the latter by slugging her Dwarven drinking buddy in the face, which turned out to be a traditional Dwarven female greeting (and rolled high enough in the ensuing persuasion check that it ended up incredibly sexy to him).
- I Surrender, Suckers: Attempted by Vaeri, who, when in battle with the Big Bad, follows up a display of dramatically cowering before him with an Action Surge-enabled flurry of attacks. Doesn't work as well as intended due to a string of bad rolls, but points for trying.
- Immediate Self-Contradiction: While Zara is sleeping naked near a pond, the old Dwarf she befriended at the bar comes across her... And places his coat on her before making a sheepish dash, Umi saying he's a nice man... Then that he's not a nice man once she sees he's left. Momo calls Mouse out on this with the latter noting he should've complimented Zara's body... When Arcadum points out Zara's unconscious, Mouse then notes the Dwarf should've given her the kiss of life... before quickly and sheepishly noting that he shouldn't.
- Lap Pillow: Revlis does this for Umi whenever Umi's narcolepsy strikes.
- The Last Dance: To some extent, the party was under the impression that their battle with the Big Bad was this, with Melody in particular convinced that they were going to die against it. They also momentarily consider an extremely risky strategy against it, under the reasoning that it would be a badass way to go out if they failed. Subverted in that ultimately, everyone survives.
- Leeroy Jenkins: Zara has some tendencies of this, especially in how, if there is any fight to be found, Zara will damn well find it. This has resulted in her punching a bit above her weight class a couple times, though fortunately, in those cases, the other party was content to merely show off a brief taste of their power and leave it at that.
- Another noticeable example, also from Zara, was during the first boss battle where Zara rushed right over to the samurai as soon as she first appeared and had the chance. This almost proved to be a fatal mistake when the samurai quickly dropped her to low health and with Zara dashing over to her meant the red orc couldn't attack beforehand.
- Mistaken for Prostitute: A frequent occurrence in "Steel and Silence", thanks to Terryn's tendency to run around without pants. The party ultimately decided to just roll with it, and started deliberately posing as a group of travelling prostitutes in their search for a member of the Shattered Star.
- Moment Killer: Revlis gained a bit of a reputation for this, first for cutting short one of Vaeri's few attempts at romancing an NPC, and then later for outright interrupting Madeline while, well... in the act.
- Mook Maker: One of the Aphotic Indefatigable's main traits, given that most of its abilities are either based in some way on how many mirages of itself it has summoned, or in some way allow it to summon more.
- Noodle Incident: Courtesy of a decent roll, Revlis is the only character who knows of the Silent Knights. Silvervale handwaved/roleplayed it as Revlis having had an... "adventure" at their chapel once. No further details were given.
- Not What It Looks Like: After Umi releases and then saves Mezzleternorta, he accompanies her to the rest of the party, with the groups reuniting just as Umi succumbed to narcolepsy note , leaving Mezzleternorta stuck introducing himself to the rest of the party with an unconscious Umi who had spontaneously aged by several years since they last saw her. Fortunately, all they do is tie him up until Umi reawakens and can set the record straight.
- Old Shame: Terryn teases Revlis often for "killing her dog" as part of her deal with Babylon; even though Daiyo didn't die and simply returned to the Laughing Mad.
- Our Dragons Are Different: The Lord of Blades is a titanic dragon who has replaced most of his scales with unhilted swords. The party is sent to help him after he is injured by the Violet and he seems to quickly take a liking to them. He's also perfectly willing to slaughter a would-be dragon slayer who serves the Enemy, and even in his injured state, has absolutely zero trouble doing so.
- Pet the Dog: When the party meets Hokky Kepto, they, under the suspicion that he might be the member of the Shattered Star that they were looking for (he was not), seduce him, only to knock him out before doing anything more than braiding his beard. When they meet up with him again, they convince him that he did, in fact, have sex with them, and was exceptionally skilled in doing so, giving him a noticeable boost in confidence.
- Rapid Aging: Umi undergoes this when she gives some of her life energy to Mezzleternorta when he was dying just after being released from his prison. She got an extremely poor roll when doing so, resulting in her giving a little more than intended and aging about a decade or so as a result. Fortunately, it still succeeded in saving his life, as well as giving him a less monstrous form and Umi shows no bother about it, even if she goes back to her young form once given the chance.
- Really Gets Around: Lord Lassader Brone, who had an encounter with Revlis, and later even manages to get with a gnome Cleric who had specifically warned Terryn earlier that he was rumored to have picked up a variety of diseases due to this tendency, both on the same night.
- Running Gag:
- Chat spamming "CHAOTIC HORNY" and "HORNY JAIL" when the party's behavior devolves into, well, pretty much what those two phrases imply.
- "What a fucked-up day," Zara's typical response to when the party's behavior starts to go off the deep end.
- The party will frequently either consider removing or full-on ripping off someone's nipples.
- Stemming from this, chat referring to "Death and Debts" as "Death and Nipples," based on another line Zen had said.
- Zara constantly tries to pick people up and carry them on her shoulder when she first meets them, including the Dark God Babylon.
- Terryn randomly transforming into other people. When Braktor Ironbellows warns her not to try transforming into him and Terryn promptly does so anyway, only to immediately find out that there was actually a good reason not to, the party blames Braktor for putting the idea in her head. This also actually proves to be useful in deciphering the identity of a ghost.
- Terryn finding some way to screw around with her foes in battle, ranging from disguising herself as one of them to grabbing a slime baby and throwing it into nearby water.
- Umi is apparently incapable of pronouncing Mezzle's name and says it differently every time.
- The party teasing Umi for accidentally accepting a marriage proposal through showing her tooth, which they also joke is her showing fancy to others whenever the mermaid points out that she's doing it.
- Umi touching fire whenever she sees it.
- Umi shouting "Tentacles!" whenever she wakes up from her "Sleeping Beauty Syndrome" after the 10th episode of "Death & Debts."
- Vaeri is not a lizard, she's a dragon.
- Terryn teasing Revlis for throwing away Daiyo and that her new familiar, Shiny, will be next.
- Revlis assuming Madeline has the hots for Shiny.
- Sealed Good in a Can: Umi ends up coming across one, the "good" in question being a Gith named Mezzleternorta who was sealed away in an attempt to preserve his race. There was some question as to whether he was this or Sealed Evil in a Can for awhile, given how his appearance when first discovered was as a giant, malformed, larvae-like creature, but when Umi ultimately releases him, it turns out that his amiability and politeness really was genuine.
- Shout-Out: One of the guests at the party the girls infiltrate flirts with one of the other partygoers by calling him "a tall glass of water--and I just 'love' moisture...".
- Summon Bigger Fish:
- Invoked by Revlis when dealing with members of the Shattered Star after listening in on their meeting, thanks to conjuring an illusion to frighten them, and succeeding well enough to attract some nearby Will-o-Wisps. The Will-o-wisps make short work of them, though it was momentarily a bit touch and go as to whether the group itself would escape the same fate.
- Played for Laughs when Terryn summons Azeatec to... perform an erotic dance. It does prove useful, though.
- Taking the Bullet: When the Big Bad is in the final phase of his fight and tries to use Entropy, Silver/Revlis puts herself on the line to prevent it, knowing that she would take significant damage if she failed. Fortunately, thanks to a couple of Inspiration-induced rerolls, it doesn't come to that and even then, she had armor that allowed her to survive a knock-out blow.
- Third-Person Person: Azeatec not only refers to himself this way, but he refers to himself as if he's two different people, both named Azeatec.
- Unluckily Lucky: Umi's attempt to release Mezzletemorta could be seen as this. She needed to make two rolls, the first to break the seal containing him, and the second to give him her life force to keep him from immediately dying upon being released. She managed to roll a 1 twice in a row. However, since the session happened the same week as Mouse's birthday, Arcadum's rules allowed her to change the first roll into a 20 and successfully break the seal; as for the second, the roll didn't affect the transfer itself, just how much Umi herself would be affected in return, and the group realizes that the failed roll aged Umi into a MILF, and thus was arguably a good thing. Though ultimately, Umi went back into her younger form upon the next level-up.
- Also happened earlier, when Terryn disguised herself as Doug the Acolyte in order to blend in with a group of his fellow acolytes that the group was in battle with. When they ask her to perform the Secret Handshake, she fails the roll to do so successfully. Fortunately, Doug didn't actually know it either, so they're fooled anyway.
- Unusual Euphemism: "Fade to Black," for encounters that require an immediate cut to a different scene due to not exactly being with Twitch's Terms of Service.
