Where do we go from here?

This transcript is machine-generated and may contain errors in names, terminology, or attribution.

[CLINKING] Peacocks. This summer, during the biggest sporting event of the year, Peacock turns to two broadcasting legends for the Olympics coverage you can't find anywhere else. I think they mean us. Oh, [BLEEP] Um-- [CLEARS THROAT] With an incredible duo sure to take home the comedy gold, Olympic highlights with Kevin Hart and Kenan Thompson. New episodes Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, only on Peacock. Coming to Apple TV+ on August 9th. You're the Marine? Yeah. You're the ex-con. Yeah, I did time, but you're only going to cast aspersions at me. From the director of Mr. and Mrs.

Smith and The Bourne Identity comes a new film. It's your first job? I know what I'm doing. It's a little late for a crit change. Starring Matt Damon. Everybody in New England is after us. And Casey Affleck. Go, go, go, go, go! What are you doing? Taking notes. Taking notes on a criminal conspiracy. The Instigators, rated R. Streaming August 9th on Apple TV+. Episode 100 is brought to you today by Loot Crate. Go to lootcrate.com/dandr and get a discount off of your subscription. Check them out. This month's theme for Loot Crate in February is tabletop role-playing games and board games.

Come on. That's a fucking no-brainer, guys. You're into the show. You like nerdy stuff. You like tabletop role-playing games. Give it a shot. I think you'll be very pleasantly surprised. Most of the people in the cast who have tried it seem to really dig them. And I honestly can't wait for this month's unboxing on YouTube. So www.lootcrate.com/dandr. Give them a shot. I know you're all anxious to get to episode 100. I just want to do one thing before we do. I, on behalf of the cast, want to thank each and every one of our listeners for helping to support us in every way that you do with iTunes reviews and Facebook posts and your emails and tweets and everything, helping to support us on Patreon and the Kickstarter, helping us elevate this to a completely different level than what we started out as.

The cast has grown. Our listenership has grown. And it sounds sappy, but it feels like a little family that we've developed online. And I'm very proud that I get to work with these insanely talented individuals. And we get to tell this epic story, and you guys get to be a part of it. As you listen to episode 100, I'd like you guys to think of any questions, comments, anything, and send them to dandrpodcast@gmail.com. That's dandrpodcast@gmail.com because we're going to be doing a very special roundtable/mailbag this next week. So get them in as soon as you can.

And we're going to try and get to every single one of them if we can do that. So one more time, on behalf of the cast, I want to thank each and every single Therian out there who has helped support us in any way that you've seen fit. Your emails and your kind words and sharing us with your friends and family and donating through Patreon and all of that. Thank you so damn much. And I can't wait to see where this is in another 100 episodes. And I really hope that you enjoy episode 100 because everyone on the cast has worked very, very hard to get it to you.

And we wanted to make sure that it was worthy of you guys. So thank you very much. And we hope you enjoy the show. OK. OK. Everybody ready? Yep. Yep. All right. Then for the 100th time, let's do that thing where we go around the table. I'm Jason. I'm the Dungeon Master. Going around the table. Start with Izzy. Hey, I'm Izzy. And I play Una, the half-elf paladin. And Bree. Hi, I'm Brianna. And I play Jadzia, Grace, the human warlock. And Jasper. Hey, this is Jasper. I play Merrick, Ethelred, human cleric. And Kat. Hi, I'm Kat Charlie. And I play Thi, the changing thief.

And Mac. Hey, I'm Mac. And I play his clone, Volgiris, the wild and shaman. Hi, my name's Dan. I play Duncan, Joy, Batam, dwarven bard. And Kelsey. Hey, I'm Kelsey. And I play Diana, tiefling mage. And Tom. Hi, I'm Tom. I play King, Yen, we're a minotaur. And Jake. What's going on? I am Jake, a.k.a. Draconis, dragonborn, firemane. Hi, I'm Sarah Beth. And I will be playing Eren, blue collar, a human bard. And Kira. I'm Kira. I'm going to be playing a gnome sorcerer named Ingrid Pike. And Valerie. Hi, I'm Valerie. And I'm playing Sore Greywing, the halfling ranger. And Karen.

Hi, I'm Karen. I'm going to be playing Evelyn Haywood, a human ranger. And Loran. Hi, I'm Loran. And I play Cole Dualfang, a long-toothed shifter druid. And Lisa. Hi, I'm Lisa. And I'm going to be playing Elorath Beestinger, the halfling barbarian. Hi, I'm Jamie Richardson. And I play Kori, forest keeper, on group two, the pirate, goliath seeker. And Xavier. Hey, I'm Xavier. And I play Actoronus, the revenant cleric. And Alex. Hey, I'm Alex. I play Brelin, the pirate bard. And Danielle. Hi, I'm Danielle. I play Leila, the human slayer. And Susan. Hi, I'm Susan. I play Erel of Grimnus, the pirate tiefling invoker.

And last and certainly not least, the leader of group two, the face, if you will, James. Hi. Wait, what? I'm James. What the hell? Who now? I am not the leader, by choice. On the 12th day of the month of Amada, in the year 1263, a group of adventurers that had recently helped to overthrow the tyrannical king, Zanin Carter, had tracked the dangerous archmaid, Seacall Loreweaver, in order to stop the powerful archmage from continuing his research into a deadly virus that could kill thousands of non-humans. After a battle, the group managed to defeat the archmage, but at a terrible loss to their own party.

They now stand deep within the caves of Betrayal Ridge. I'm going to not mess with Hondo yet and kind of look over Loreweaver and see what he had on him. Yeah, check him out. Well, yeah. Well. Same. Loreweaver had a few things on him. One, he was carrying a significant amount of gold. If you had to guess, if you had to guess, this guy was trying to start a new life. He was running, and he wanted to make sure that he had everything that he needed with him. He has 10,000 gold on him. OK. That is a huge-- I'll split that amongst the party. Right. I would imagine.

OK. So among the four living members of this party. On top of that, he has a few different herbs and potions and things like that, but that's mostly-- he has sort of a work area in the back of this cave set up. No table or anything. A lot of his possessions are scattered about the ground. He has a large sort of a duffel leaning against the wall here. But you are going to notice one other possession among Loreweaver's things, and that appears to be some sort of rod implement. This one's really fancy looking. It's sort of silver tips at the ends, these little spiral-- spiral etched shapes.

It almost appears to be sort of the design of it's kind of swirly throughout the-- throughout-- it's not like any rod you've ever seen before. The only one right now in the party who could even use it or care would be Draconis. OK. I'll have it-- well, OK. Does Duncan know that by looking at it? Well, I mean, it's obviously not a sword or anything like that. Anybody who uses any magic, I mean, you'd know that. OK. So I just toss it to Draconis. Yeah. Anybody could do a history check on it, by the way. OK. Well, I'm going to catch it, and I'm going to roll a history check.

I rolled a 26 on history, by the way. Nice. Draconis is going to recognize this item as the Rod of Wonder. [GASPS] Oh! [LAUGHS] Sorry. I'm so happy. Yeah. Draconis would know that this item was last seen in Brightport. It was purchased by an independent collector, and it had disappeared for quite a while. This is a very powerful and chaotic magical implement. Draconis would know exactly what it would do. OK. Digging that. And he would also know that this thing kind of has the power to either-- well, it can turn the tide in combat. Whether it's for or against you is completely random.

I like how he just gave the Rod of Wonder to the drug addict. So I guess Duncan didn't know what it was when he saw it. I didn't know it. No, I don't. Yeah. OK. So I'm going to kind of look at it and just kind of eyeball around the room, see if anybody else is looking, and just kind of like, OK. Kind of pocketed, kind of. After going-- oh, there's a bag, too. I guess, should we go through the bag? Yeah, the duffel? Yeah. Yeah, we'll go through the duffel bag, too. So Lore Weaver had a lot of his research notes and journals and such with him, and a lot more information about what he was working on the potions that Hondo found.

And there's going to actually be two vials of this black, kind of inky liquid. It's got touches of-- kind of touches of a lighter-- like a light blue swirling within it, though. And it appears to be almost active, like it's actively churning within the vial. This vial is not-- it's not made of glass, but it's much more thick. It's actually reinforced. So if it were to be dropped, it wouldn't just shatter on impact. And what you found out about this stuff before is that's a really fucking good thing, because there is a very good chance that this is an airborne virus that would target anyone who isn't human.

What? So I take it that just from what happened, Diana is just kind of stunned, dazed right now? Diana is currently standing by Honda's corpse, just looking down on it with an unreadable expression on her face. OK. So I'll go up to Diana and kind of pull-- does she have a robe? What does she wear? Armor, actually. She has like a cloak kind of thing. OK, kind of pulls on the cloak a little bit. And I go, I know that you two were really good friends. Are you OK? She's not going to respond to that. Just kind of look over at Duncan and then look back down. Is there anything on him that, besides the staff, that isn't gone?

Like is there any, I guess, possessions or anything on the body? There was his medallion, his money. You know, bits and pieces like that, yeah. I mean, there's stuff of value. That's what you're asking. Yeah, well, just-- yeah, like, because his corpse is like pretty much like it's-- is it like how badly charred is it? Like is it kind of like beyond recognition sort of thing? It's bad. OK. Yeah, he was electrocuted to death. Quite-- it's pretty much like the Drake you found. Yeah. So she's going to kind of bend down and just kind of like collect, I guess, his money, the medallion, and she already has one of his rings, so that's not really necessary.

Just-- and then kind of like kick the staff out of his grasp kind of just like away and then set the body on fire. If you want, I could have done that. Just explain it. I'm kidding. OK. So after she sets the body on fire, I guess would be a good time to kind of go, hey, we were looking over Lore Weaver's things and we found this, and I give her the duffel bag and I say, I think you'll probably know more about this than we will. So she'll take the bag and just nod kind of as-- is there anything like on him that's like recognizable as like that's Lore Weaver's, like any-- Or are you just trying to identify him as Lore Weaver?

If we showed somebody. Oh, if you should. Well, I mean, his-- yeah, well, all the Archmages pretty much have a distinctive like robe pattern. Like that's kind of what they wear. Like if you ran into a Landon again, that's like he dresses a certain way. It's sort of something you acquire when you reach the title of Archmage. It's like, oh, he wears like gold and red, and this is how he-- like it's identifiable to anyone in the magic world. OK, so Diana will kind of look towards the body, just take his robes and burn the quartz. OK, I take his robe and then I kind of motion to Draconis to burn him.

OK, Draconis is just going to look down, give him a little wink and light it up. Diana's going to look more closely in the bag at the weapon, I guess, and that's inside of his-- Did I run an Arcana check on it? You can, you're going to-- I mean, that's going to-- the journals would help more than that if you're trying to figure out exactly what it does. Not what it does so much as how to dispose of it, I guess. But that's too risky. It needs to be completely destroyed. Draconis is going to walk over and ask, do we want to do anything with Hondo's ashes or anything?

Is there any way to collect them, Jason? I don't know how this would work. I can rummage through my sack of treasures and see if there's like an urn or something. You guys can pull out a potion. Pour out a potion. No. OK. OK. One of us, at least one of us used a potion. We could take that bottle of the ashes there. I mean, technically, yeah, you could do that or you can take any one of the trinkets that Yanward gathered up. I used the potions, I'll give the potion bottle to Diana because I don't know if she did or not. Yeah, collect his ashes and put them there and just...

In that case, I will tie my bag back up. I don't want you to have to waste your trinkets, Yanward. It's fine. You walked pretty through a few with some ogres last time. Didn't have time to get them back. Yeah, we should have picked them back up. Yeah, so that's just kind of... You really have to go to Durn Hollow, guys. Come on. And because I just walked over, I'm like, what are you like, what's going on Durn Hollow? Oh, so that's where Hondo is from. So Diana thinks that we should take Hondo's ashes to Durn Hollow and give them to the little kids that Hondo was hanging out with.

And then tell the White Ravens that we killed this guy and then they can tell everyone else. His kids should at least know that he's no longer with us. OK, so although Duncan isn't extremely religious or anything, he will kind of kneel down by where Hondo died and just kind of say a little prayer to no one specific, you know, just kind of doing that. Dear Jesus Christ. Heard you loud and clear, Dan. That was beautiful. Diana's just, I guess, going to kind of fold the duffel bag that Lorebuh had with the rest of her possessions and just say that it will likely take some time to figure out a safe way to dispose of that.

And I bet at some point may end up be going to Uminero, but that's for a later date, I suppose. I know that we all kind of want the money and stuff, but maybe we should just give it to the kids that he was helping out. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What do you mean? Like your portion? Like you're going to give your portion? No, I mean all the money. That's what he was raising money for. So it would make sense if we just gave it to them. It's a good idea. I volunteered your conus's portion as well. No, no, no, no, no. We're not splitting up his money. All of Hondo's money is going to the children in Durin Hollow.

And what are they-- like, is this before or after we're splitting up this 10,000 we just found? Oh, the 10,000. That has nothing to do with it. We're talking about Hondo's money. I know that, but I mean, that's not getting portioned into his-- that cut, is it? No, that's ours. We split that four ways. But the money that was on Hondo we're giving to the kids. Just making sure. I'm just making sure nobody's doing anything stupid. Feeding kids would be really stupid. Well, Hondo was carrying upwards of $4,000 on him. Jesus Christ, let's rethink this, guys. Wasn't it more than that?

I thought it was more than that. It may be more than that, actually. I thought it was more like $8,000. Well, he pocketed $8,000 at once. And then-- Oh, god, you're right. He didn't split-- yeah, shit. He was carrying quite a substantial amount. We were supposed to split that, but he didn't. Right. Well, here's the thing, though. OK, here's the thing, though. Right now, Ynward, Draconis, and Duncan have no idea how much money he had on him, only Diana does. So if Diana wants to give us that information, then we can talk about it. But if she does-- I trust he'll do the right thing.

If she doesn't want to give that information, then we're going on and giving the money to the kids. Diana will say nothing on the subject. OK, then we don't know. Can't do nothing about that. Little does Diana know, Ynward can smell money. [LAUGHTER] I was about to say, I think-- yeah, that's one of his new skills. I mean, if someone wants to get aggressive about it and be like, how much money did he have-- No, it's fine. Should we take a rest in the cave? I mean, because we're-- I guess, I mean, since we're on the new table, we're not damaged or anything.

But we're supposed to be kind of beat up. I mean, we're not in the best part of town. Should we-- Well, in a cave is kind of-- there's not really-- All the drakes that would have been in this cave are dead. Yeah. The drakes are gone, so, you know. OK. Then, yeah, we can rest up. Yeah, you can find that, because we don't have any specific time frame now. We were kind of chasing them before, so we can rest up. Well, you have a few options. Durn Hollow is-- you know, I mean, that would be on your way somewhere. But on top of that, Diana's going to-- Diana, did you do an Arcana check on this stuff?

I meant to. I didn't actually do it. OK. Go ahead and do that. Oof, almost a crit. 35. OK, yeah, that's-- so Diana's picking up that this goop here is two things. One, very powerful. This was something that Lore Weaver and perhaps a few other people were working on for a while. And it's up to you, but if you're poring through these journals, you'd probably find more out about it. Yes. This is most certainly beyond Diana, in terms of destroying it. She's not entirely sure how to even get to it without unleashing it. She's not sure if this is an airborne thing, if it's something that has to touch something, if it's like a virus.

Like, once it's out there, she isn't really quite sure of a lot of things. So it'd be really dangerous to screw around with it. Human hero it is. Does she share with the party, like, all that stuff? Like, tell us about it? Just-- yeah, I mean, well, he already kind of knew that. Yeah, it's powerful. It will likely kill us. And just, like, after she does my research, she knows that it needs-- Even me? I just didn't know if, like, the rest of the group knew how dangerous it was. She would have-- well, I-- yeah, I mean, basically, yeah, she does everything. Just like, yeah, it's beyond any of the skills.

You know what their intent was? You don't know how successful they were at manufacturing this. Don't want to risk anything. Yeah. Like, they wanted to-- they were so intent on making this that they were testing on humans to see if it affected them. They were not above testing on their own, just to make sure that this-- you know, that's-- that's how serious they were. OK, so you guys are resting. Is anyone pouring through these journals throughout the night? Diana would get as much sleep as she needs, and then, yeah, she would be. OK, cool. Yeah, I figured.

I wasn't going to. Yennward. Yennward poured. Yeah, Yennward feverishly studying these journals. Um, yes. Did you learn anything, Yennward? There we go. OK, so journals. Do me a favor, roll a perception check to see how-- actually, roll an arcana check to see how much you're-- Thank you. I remember this came up once, and I did the same thing for Jadzia. So yeah, this is most certainly beyond Diana. And this goes into great detail about how they were testing on children, how they were testing on non-humans and humans alike. They kept this up for weeks. This was a testable form of this that they were able to sort of corral a bunch of non-humans at once.

And they tested this on them for weeks. They would seal-- they would just try it on dwarves, or just try it on elves, or half-elves, and just see how effective this is. And going down the list, it does affect certain races more. The hardier the race, it turns out, the tougher it is, like the longer they have to be exposed. Dragonborn are the worst. Dragonborn and dwarves. It takes a long time for this to eat away to Dragonborn, just because they have genetically bred themselves to be almost immune to disease. They have a natural-- they have a natural resistance to illness.

So let's say you're trekking through a swamp, where most of the party may get some sort of sickness, like trekking through-- like, swamps are teeming with disease. If you're trekking through with a Dragonborn, the Dragonborn's probably going to walk out unscathed, unless it's something particularly nasty. They really didn't get it to the point where they could cut through that natural defense. Same thing with dwarves. Dwarves, just a little less so. They're really hardy and stout. But this is-- we're talking centuries, where the Dragonborn have-- so elves, it'll cut right through an elf.

Tieflings are somewhere in the middle, but you can see where they were working on this. If what you're reading is true, this is almost certainly a death sentence. And the way it works is that once someone is exposed to this, they are a carrier. They can spread this through contact, through saliva, coughing, sneezing, that kind of thing. You will get sicker and sicker until you die. And then once you die, your corpse can still spread the illness. Oh my god. It's like a bull. It's bad. It's really, really bad. What about minotaurs? That's fun, right? Minotaurs are big and hardy and stout, but they are lower on the list of resistance than Dragonborn or dwarves.

And you'll think. How secure are the containers that-- I would not let them get hit, but they are resistant to just being jostled or bumped. They're not like potion containers where it's just a little glass vial. It's kind of a glass, like a thick glass vial that sits in this little steel cage. So they are-- if you were to drop it, it's not the end of the world, literally. I put in the Skype chat. Would it make sense, since we're more resistant to it, just to be safe for us to hold it? I think if it were to actually be released, we would all be close enough where it doesn't matter.

And also, as far as being hit and jostled, I think Diana still gets hit the least. So I don't know. Well, I just meant more about how sealed is it, is just carrying it around long going to-- No. No, no, no. These containers were manufactured specifically to hold this. That's what their job is. Again, if what you're reading is true and accurate, which you have no reason to doubt why, these are his personal-- Give up love check on the journal. [LAUGHTER] I'm going to lie to the journal. That's-- Lie to this journal. Give me the information I want. You have no reason to doubt what's being said here.

But let's say that somehow one of these vials were to be shattered. This whole party would be dead within probably seconds. Yeah. Maybe minutes. It doesn't matter who holds it. This is-- let's say one of you were infected and wandered into town. That would spread throughout that entire town, but it would be a little slower. If the liquid actually makes contact with one of you, you're fucking dead. Like, you're dead within minutes. You don't have much time. The rest of you would be sort of in the quote unquote "splash zone," where this is airborne. So it's this-- let's say you did it in the middle of a clearing, right?

So no other people around but the party. And for some reason, someone decides to-- let's say Ynward wants to smash one of these or whatever. I don't know why. I'm just kidding. You can bet on me. Ynward, I'll give you 10 gold if you drink it. Chug, chug, chug. It doesn't say anything about its effect on animals? Like, non-sentient genes? This is a targeted virus. But could they be carriers? That has not been tested. OK. OK. OK, we're all up. We're awake. Is Diana telling us this, or is she keeping this information to herself? She would relay the information. OK. OK.

Whoever has these things has a whole lot of power. Do we really trust-- I know that we don't know how to destroy it, but do we really trust anybody enough to give it to them? I don't know. Who would even know how to destroy it? The mages at Uminiro really are only shot with something like this. How could we trust them enough to do that? Any non-human would have a vested interest in getting rid of this. Well, there were humans that were going to use it. So you'd think that, but people who want power, I mean, we don't know. If a non-human were to use it, they would be dead as well.

That's not a valid-- Right, but I'm saying, I mean-- Do we have another option? I don't-- I have no-- I don't know anybody else that would know what-- how to-- How to destroy it? Yeah. I mean, I don't know. I'm just-- I think we should think this through before we just hand it over to somebody. Oh, absolutely. Especially hand it over to somebody who's used weapons of mass destruction in the past. That's true. Do you know anybody over there that we can trust, or is it just like going over there? [LAUGHS] I know nobody from Uminio, or at least nobody that currently lives in the city, that I'm aware of anyways.

It's-- I don't feel confident enough simply burying it here. The risk of it being discovered at some point is too great. No, I-- like, you know, I know that they're the only people that can help us, but if we could find a way just to get the shot. Believe me, I will not be giving this to anyone without a-- or even letting anyone know its existence within our group without a sufficient test of trust. This needs to be gone from the womb. This can't exist. If something were to happen to us and it's just left on our bodies, it's this-- Kelsey, you studied the map the most.

You know most about this stuff. Yeah, OK. So the path we want to take-- because unless we want to go down through werewolves, which is the last thing we want to ever want to do in the world. So we want to go through Durnhollow and then go straight across to-- it's pretty much the path you guys took before, like when you guys went across the continent. Just like up through Durnhollow, Donhurst, and then kind of down and then up to Uminiro, I guess. And since we're going through Durnhollow anyway, do we want to stop in Durnhollow? Yeah, that's kind of it.

But Jason, is that correct? Is that the best path through Uminiro? That would be the safest one, yeah. You're still going to have to go through the Divide, which is the Deadwood. Yeah, but I mean-- There's no getting around it. We don't exactly have many options here. No, you don't. No, many people don't. Can we jump? Well, you guys did walk through it last time completely unscathed. True. We can do that again. Nothing even bothered you, so we'll see. We can do that again, because we're tough. On the 12th day of the month of Amata, a group of adventurers set sail from the city of Odyssea and made their way to the eastern Cerulean Sea.

On the 14th day of the month, they were attacked by a hydra during a torrential thunderstorm. They managed to slay the beast and keep their ship from capsizing. Sadly, their Drake Mount Snickers was taken overboard by the monster before its defeat. After the battle, they discovered the paladin they had rescued from the dead Aladrin city was finally awake. Now they stand aboard their ship, the Aluyanda, as they continue their journey to the Yemgarh swamp. I think I'd like to preemptively diffuse the situation, seeing that he's waking up in an unknown boat with unknown people.

All right. Do me a favor. Everyone roll Perception, just to give you a insight here into-- Is that two crit ones, I see? Yeah. Yeah, it is. Wow. Get them out of the way. Excellent start. Was that Cory and Dagon who rolled two crit ones? Looking at each other. So running down the list here, Erolove, Actaronis, and Braelyn are going to pick up the general vibe that this guy's pretty-- a little distraught, a little disheveled. He's very, very groggy. Me too. Me too. Well, you're still on the deck. I'm going to get to you in just one second. OK, I forgot where I was.

Yeah. You and Cory are still on the deck. But you could see he's kind of leaning against the walls here, just kind of bracing himself up. And he looks to be pretty out of it. You would imagine that the commotion from the Hydra battle itself and the fact that these waves are just breaking against the boat over and over again, it's pretty loud. So that's probably what jarred him awake. Leila-- Leila on the deck is going to hear some kind of soft murmuring, like the party is talking. But it wouldn't stand out to her that they're talking to anyone important other than each other.

And Cory heard nothing. I'm too enveloped in my morning. So go ahead, actor on us. All right, diplomacy style. Sir, please, please have a seat. The waves are much too strong. And you're still recovering. You probably have a million questions. And we probably have a million answers for you. But rest assured, we are not your enemies. Please sit down and ask us whatever you need to know. But you are safe. And yes, you have indeed survived that battle. He is going to kind of slump against the wall and just sort of-- just kind of crumple to the ground. And he sees you're not brandishing weapons.

You're not-- it's more just-- it's kind of like waking a sleepwalker, that kind of thing. They're just like really out of it for a few minutes. Who are you people? I think I'll look to Dagon and elbow his leg with my elbow. Hey, talk to him, boss. I'm not a leader here. Well, in that case, I am Sir Acteron Isidual Athanasius. And well, Dagon, why don't you get the man refreshments while we're here? We are a traveling party. And we've happened to come to Odysseus. And by pure chance, as we left the coast, we saw you on the cliff and came back for you, sir.

Do me a favor. Roll diplomacy. 19, that's not too bad. You're going to see where he's kind of-- he's kind of staring off into the middle distance, like thinking about what you're telling him. And then as if a switch goes off, he's-- like, you can see that something just came to mind. And he's going to look up into your, well, helmet. Were there any other survivors? Did anyone else make it out? There was only one other, a small, frail woman. That's it. However, there may be more. But I highly doubt it. The young woman went back to Esterhold in the hopes to bring her back to life.

The white-haired paladin. Una, her name is Una. Una was taken back to Esterhold. Although I strongly suggested that everyone would be better if she did not do so. And I think I pulled my weight convincing her, I assume. That's a lot of information for him to take in. He's going to look away from you and just sort of look down. And a bit of a crumpled look of defeat crosses his face. What about the dragon? Very much that. Would you like to see proof? He's going to look back up to you and just sort of cock an eyebrow. Like, do you have proof on you? Yes, we do.

And you more than deserve a big part of it. Bracing himself against the wall, he's going to stand back up. And the boat's jostling very, very erratically. So he'll get halfway up and sort of have to right himself against the wall. And you could tell he's not at full strength. And he's going to walk over to you and extend his hand. Craig. Actuarotus. I suppose I owe all of you my life. I'm very much in your debt. Bralin's going to interrupt. Not everybody. More like three people. And-- We watched. We had ideas. We had ideas. We had ideas. I was going to put an angel at the bottom so we'd take half damage if he fell.

Yeah. What's half of 5,000? You would survive. He's going to look to Bralin. And it's taking him a couple of seconds. His eyes are kind of adjusting in the light. Well, which three of you? He's going to point both guns at himself. Well, I'm one. And the other two are upstairs. He's going to start to kind of lurch forward and place his hand on Bralin's head and just kind of give his hair a tussle. Wonderful. Bralin was going to frown. And it's not-- he's not trying to be rude. It's more like, no, that's cute. Seriously, who rescued me? Who pulled me up from the ledge?

And he's just going to walk. And he's going to start to go up the stairs and make his way above deck. I'm going to fix my hair. I don't want to take-- I don't want to take credit for healing the man, but whatever. Fine. Whatever, I don't care. So he's topside now. And he wants to-- he's sort of taking this entire scene in. And the deck itself is awash in tiny flecks of Drake. And that's sort of being washed away, though. Every time a wave breaks over the side of the ship, it sort of takes-- it sort of scatters it around. And every once in a while, it'll just take little bits off.

And eventually, the deck will be all clear. What happened to the hydra heads? Those will not be all clear. I was just curious. I was like, there were like three or four that we chopped off, right? Yeah. A couple of those are still-- --in front of the ship. Yeah. A couple of those are still on the ship itself. Yeah, so he's taking in this scene. And Corey and Layla would be able to see him now, just kind of standing on deck. Do I have to be standing on deck, or can I be pulling like a Titanic and standing on the edge with my arms up? You can, although if a wave comes by-- I'm pretty big.

It's not like one's going to just knock me off. Do you remember the last time you were standing on the deck? I'm just saying, you're in the middle-- the same thunderstorm is still raging. Oh, OK. There's a storm. Fine. I'm standing not too close. Not raging. It is dying down. It's just, you know, it's still-- the water's still pretty choppy. Well, regardless, she's probably looking out to the sea. Might not notice him come up. OK. What about Corey? Corey would probably start off like how she ended, taking the time that they were speaking to Craig downstairs to sort of like say goodbye to snakes.

But the second she notices people are coming up, she's going to be like, all right, I can't look weak. So she's probably going to turn, give a slight nod, and start to clear off some of the deck so that she doesn't-- she can't focus too much on how she's feeling. She wants to stay busy. Well, the fact that you're Goliath is an attention getter. [LAUGHTER] Right. That's the thing. I forgot about that. That is the thing. Yeah, every once in a while, it crops up. You are ginormous. It's cool. Yeah, you're eight feet tall. That's pretty big, you know, and albino.

Would I be able to grab one of these heads and just chuck it overboard? I'm not sure how big they are, so I wasn't sure if I would be-- They're fairly large. You'd be able-- I mean, you wouldn't discus it around and throw it around. But I mean, you could make an athletics check to see if you can just sort of push it over the side. It's not going to offer any resistance, really, other than being heavy. You said athletics? Yeah. 34. Yeah, you're going to just-- You're sure she doesn't discus it over the side? Yeah. I just want to look badass in front of Craig, OK?

OK, so Corey's huge. We get it. And that's a pretty impressive display. So after-- not only did you guys fight a hydra, you're just kind of standing on deck in the middle of this thunderstorm. It is dying down, but the first thing Craig will see is you two up here. And then Corey's just going to go over to the side of the ship where one of these hydra heads is and just sort of lift it up a bit and throw it over the side. That is a very impressive display of strength. And Craig's going to take all that in and then look back down the stairs towards the rest of the party.

And then over to Corey again. And he's going to start to walk toward Corey and sort of call out to get her attention. Excuse me. She'll stop what she's doing and sort of over. It's nice to see her awake, sir. And he's going to hold his hand out to shake Corey's. She'll vigorously shake his hand. Do me a favor, roll an athletics check. Just curious. OK. Crit one, everybody. Yeah, I just wanted to see how firm your handshake was. So you're being gentle with him because he just woke up. Oh, that's still 19. Yeah, it's still 19. Yeah, it's still-- she could have crushed his whole arm.

Yeah, he's going to-- so he's going to shake your hand. Craig Mason, that was quite the display. Corey Forestkeeper and my party and I ran into some trouble on our way. So we had to take care of this beast. Would you mind if I ask when we're landing on shore? How much longer we got, Jason? You probably have another solid day of travel. It depends on what area of the swamp you're looking to land in. That's a question I wanted to ask everybody. We want to land in the safest, most rainbow-filled with puppies and kittens part of the swamp. So not the swamp. [LAUGHTER] Not the swamp.

I think the swamp is an area like that. [LAUGHTER] Definitely not puppies. I can most assuredly tell you they do not have puppies there. So yeah, I figure you have about another day's worth of travel. OK. I would relay that to Craig and just say, we've got about another day before we hit land for our destination. But we should have enough supplies to last us that long. What is the destination exactly? We are headed to the Yemgar Swamp to face the witch. You could tell every time he speaks, he's sort of wincing in pain. Like, it's effort for him to speak up.

And as the storm's dying down, he has to speak up a little less and a little less. But it is effort to sort of elevate his voice over the breaking waves. Would you mind if I ask why we're heading to the swamp? Why you're looking for the witch? Have we told everyone in the party why we're going to talk to the witch yet, Dagon? We have. I don't think we have either. We believe that she has answers to questions that we can only get from her. Because we're not just going there. Like, we're going there to see if she can give any more information about the Eladrin.

But I know Kori has some questions she wants to ask her, too. So it's sort of like a lot of reasons why we're going. Right. Well, I need to get back to Esterhold. But I am indebted to you and your party. If there's anything I can do to help, just let me know. I'm sure after our endeavor with the Yemgar Swamp, we can try to get you as close to Esterhold as possible. But I'll have to talk with the rest of my party about it. He's going to nod his head and then sort of looking around, just kind of taking in the scene again, you lot took out the hydra by yourself.

Kori's just going to nod. And again, he's just going to nod his head just like, OK. OK. You can tell he's very much taking you in as people. He's assessing all of you. Because that's a pretty impressive thing. And then he's going to get ready and head back down below deck if you don't stop him. I'm just going to-- Braylon is just going to kind of wave his sword like he did the first time he met the party. Like he thought he was doing moves, but he's not really doing anything. And kind of nodding at Craig like, yeah, that's what I did. He's going to go back and as he's passing, he's going to place his hand back on Braylon's head and just kind of pat it like you do like a Labrador.

Just kind of like, there you go. Good boy. Very-- just as he's walking by, he doesn't break stride. It's like, oh, good. That's adorable. And just keep going. Oh, go ahead. I was just going to say, Eryl loves doing a mom hover where she's making him think that he has-- like he's in control. But should he fall or stumble, she'll be right there. She's giving him distance, but still like, I'll catch you. He's going to get ready and sit down. And yeah, you can tell there's a lot on this guy's mind. He's-- yeah, you already pretty much know that everyone who was there that he was with died.

And he knows that, you know it. And he's just sort of composing himself. As he sits, Eryl will approach him and I guess do that crouch thing in front of him and say, should it help you at all or give you any peace of mind? We did give all the paladins a proper send off. I thought you would like to know. He's going to look up to Eryl and just sort of give one of those-- just kind of a half smile. Very appreciated, thank you. It's good to know. I just-- we just wanted to do what was right for them. We weren't able to make it in time to help the situation, but we did what we could.

And then she'll go back to the party because it looks like he wants to be alone. Is there anything off of a hydra head that would be useful, Jason? I mean, if you want to rip out teeth, and I mean, it's more-- that's more like tribal, like orc stuff. But I mean, like you can-- I mean, there are certain regions-- there are certain people who collect that kind of stuff. You could sell it to somebody. It's a lot of effort for a little cash, though. Right. I mean, it's no drake scales or dragon scales. Yeah, OK. Braylon probably want an eyeball. For any particular reason?

He needs inspiration for his next new hit, Single. So-- It's probably as big as your head. Yeah, that's why-- it's not something he's seen very often. So he's just amazed. And he's like, I got it. OK, do me a favor. Roll an athletics check to see if you can yank one of these eyeballs out of its head. The best skill ever for me. Oh, god. That's not bad. 17. So Braylon's going to slip his hands behind the eyelids of this hydra, one of the heads that's still on the deck. And he's going to-- it's this real slick, slippery kind of-- and he can't quite get his hands to get around this thing and keep a hold of it.

Every time he pulls back, it's just going to kind of slip back. And eventually, though, his hands are going to be absolutely coated in this slimy kind of goop from-- it's just kind of eye juice. Mm. Going to shake my helmet at Braylon and disapprove. I'm going to look at Tyranhas and say, hey, hey, we all got our reasons. Without context, this seems really creepy for Braylon, I'm just saying. I'm a pack rat. What can I say? OK, so I failed, obviously. Yeah, that sadly wasn't going to work. I will disgustingly wipe my hands on deck, like in Ghostbusters when someone gets slimed, they just throw their hands up in the air and down to try and get the goop off, and just walk back down to the lower deck while doing that at the same time.

I'll try disposing the rest of the heads then. OK. Do me a favor and roll an athletics check. I'm sure you won't have much of a-- For all of them or for each? Just one flat one. Give me one check. Oh. You asked for a one flat. No. I can try. I would say that this time, this time Corey's going to need help. And I would say this is a party-wide endeavor. At least Layla's going to help. It's cool. Craig's not watching anymore, so it's fine. Yeah, it's fine. Yeah. You impressed Craig, that's fine. And that's-- yeah. So Layla's going to help her kind of throw him over to the side.

And then the deck will be clear. You are Hydra head free. Wow. Whoa. Nice. That's a crit from Layla, so yeah. That's totally-- Can I hit like a volleyball? Anything else you guys want to do before you land in Yungor? I'll just spend the next day tending to Craig's wounds, probably like changing bandages or things like that. Make sure he's got enough water, but mostly in silence, I guess. Awkward silence. Yeah, he's going through a couple of things. Yeah. Did he have his armor and weapons and stuff? Well, he was still wearing his armor, and you didn't take any of that off, really.

You took his boots. Oh, sorry. If I remember correctly. I put them neatly next to his bed. Oh, OK. I think-- Yeah, he still has his weapon and everything. Dagon's going to bring him some food, like was requested. And he just wants to sit down with him for a minute and say, Dagon, I can escape. Last known Aladrin. That was my city we found you in, and I had no doubt you had a slight bit part in its destruction. Thank you very much. I didn't knock any buildings down if it makes you feel better. You brought the fight there. Anyway, we're heading for Yumgar Swamp to visit the witch.

And I'd prefer if you didn't flaunt around your cord bravado. Please remain tactful. We don't need any trouble with her. Again, I appreciate you pulling me up the mountain, and I won't cause any trouble for you. I'm just trying to get back to Astar. What I told Corey, I think your name was, that if I could be some use, I'll be some use, and I'll lend my hand in a fight if you need it. But I would like to get back to my city as soon as I can. Thank you. And I promise you, once we're done there, we'll get you back to Astarhold. What shape was Una in when they took her away?

Well, to put it bluntly, she was dead. But my friend here, actor Onis, did what he could to preserve her soul, and the scions seemed pretty intent on getting her resurrected. That's all I can tell you. And she lived through that. Yeah, she is the one who actually got the final blow on Strahd. The little one. Yes. Well, according to her, we didn't witness it. Sion's power is more than mere muscle. Oh, yes, it's true, we did witness her power. It's quite gruesome. And there was no one left alive. There were a bunch of thugs that were after Una and the little one.

They were attacking the small woman when we came in. And I'd say we disposed of half of them, and the rest fled. We took care of their leader. All right. I can help you get through the swamp at least, and then as soon as we're done, I'll start to make my way back to Strahd on foot if I need to. Again, I appreciate the help. It is my pleasure. It is our pleasure. And we'll make sure you recover promptly. You're a guest. You're not just a guest right now. For the time being, you're an ally of mine, and I will treat you as such, just like I treat all of my allies.

Welcome aboard. Craxin will nod his head and just kind of-- he's not really focused on anything. You can kind of see that he's just kind of locked in thought. He's a million miles away right now. On the 15th day of the month of Amada, a group calling themselves the Shield of Grace landed in Brightport to obtain information about a demon that one of the party members had sold their soul to years before. They now rest inside House Dragonkeep, searching through old tomes. I'm assuming that most people are asleep. I'm talking this is like 2 in the morning or so.

Who would be asleep and who would be awake, would you say? Jadzia would definitely be awake because she's going to keep studying until her eyes fall out. I kind of figured. Valus would probably be passed out in the chair next to Jadzia. I'm pretty sure Merrick would be completely zonked. This will be the first time he's gotten probably a good night's sleep in a safe place for a while. Kaluna would probably be on watch, even though they're in a safe place. More like making sure Merrick doesn't sneak off again. Dick. What about Una? Yeah, she'd probably be wandering around the house kind of aimlessly, maybe hanging out with a dragon, not really sleeping.

OK. I like how she started not liking the dragon. Now she's going to hang out with this dragon. Just like not talk to her, just kind of chill in the same room, maybe eat some ham with it or some shit. You know, this one won't try to kill you. That's the... What about Fi? Fi would, after reading the information from Liara and not really getting anything from it, he would probably head to sleep. How about we catch up with Jadzia here? So OK, Jadzia has been studying for a long ass time, as you were just saying. Is there any point where she would take a break?

Is there-- she's just pretty much studying through the night. Is there any point where she'd at least stretch her legs, anything like that? I imagine that if she ever started to get a headache from reading by candlelight for too long, then she'd take little walks just to clear her head and because she's really stressed out about everything. But besides that, probably not. Do me a favor, have Jadzia roll a perception check, please. Perfect, she's so great at those with her plus five. 12. Well, OK, this isn't a very high check. I'm just-- I'm basically seeing if you-- Are her eyes open?

Well, I'm basically seeing if she's just zombie shuffling through the halls here. Well, all right, you're going to walk past a room and see that Tessia is sitting by yourself, sort of looking over this letter. You don't really notice much more beyond that, but she's just sort of sitting in this room alone. How late is it? Like, is it-- About too late. Is it late enough? OK, so like, that's kind of weird. A tiny bit. Can I insight check? She hasn't really said anything. I mean, if you're looking to gleam like body language type of thing, where you-- OK. Kind of, yeah.

Go ahead. Why are you up so late, but without saying anything? 12. Yeah, that's-- Nothing more. That's my exact perception, Ro. Yeah, that's pretty much the same. She's just kind of sitting by herself. And that bit of information alone is like, well, that's a little strange. Yeah. But yeah, you're not picking up much more beyond that. I think Jodzia would kind of like stop in the door frame and just kind of watch for a second, but then she realizes she's been watching for too long to not say anything, because if she doesn't say anything now, it'll be creepy.

So then she'll just like lightly knock on the door, the door frame. Yeah. Tessie's going to not jump, but you can tell she was kind of somewhere else. She was reading and kind of lost herself in what she was reading. And she's going to snap to a bit and sort of focus and see that it's Jodzia. Come in, please. Jodzia will walk in, but like awkwardly like, oh, uh-oh. Now I've committed to something. So she'll kind of just walk in and tuck her hair back. I didn't think anyone else would be awake. Normally I wouldn't be. I just got this letter in the mail today and I was looking over it again.

I take it you're still studying. Jodzia's going to nod. Do you find anything interesting yet? A few things here and there. And she's going to like look over at the letter, but she doesn't want to be nosy and ask. But it's kind of clear by like her body language that she wants to ask. She's going to notice that right away that you obviously are interested in it. You can ask, you know. You don't have to. You don't have to be so polite. I'm sorry. And she's going to kind of like be shy that she noticed and go, who is the letter from? It's from my daughter, actually, Erolove.

I haven't seen her in quite a while, but I get the sense from this that she's not doing as well as I'd hoped she would be. As soon as like she says the name Erolove, like Jodzia's going to actually have to work hard not to show anything because she knows that Tessia is very perceptive and she's like, oh fuck. I say that's an insight check for her. So you like for her or for me? For me. That's for Tessia. I can't see it. What is it? It's a 35. It's a crit. So what was that against? 35. Yeah. If you want to roll a bluff to see if that fucking-- Maybe. I have a plus 12.

Let's see how it goes. I crit this. [LAUGHTER] Jodzia is not a sneaky person. No. Jodzia's going to kind of cross her arms a bit like she feels awkward talking about it. I've actually met your daughter. I'm not sure how much she's told you, but I was in the Overwatch when she joined the army. She mentioned the Overwatch in her letter, but she didn't go into a lot of detail beyond Commander Grace, actually, which I'm guessing is some relation to you. Jodzia is going to-- her head's going to shoot up when she says Grace. She's surprised that Aralef would mention that in her letter and not my father.

And she can't even stop herself. There's not even enough of a pause for it to seem respectful. And she goes, what did she say? She said that he was a good person, and he died trying to do the right thing. Very sorry to hear that, by the way. She's just going to nod, and her eyes are going to go down to the ground really quickly. Where is she now? I'm honestly not sure. I think it's going to be a while before she comes and visits me, but she has some things she needs to work out. I'm glad she survived so far. She was in the final battle with Valis and I. We didn't see her afterwards.

I think he was worried about her. It's funny he didn't mention that to me, though I'm not really surprised. Jodzia's going to smile and go, he's not the talkative type. So what exactly made you join the Overwatch? At the time, it was just I was lost, and I wanted my father to be proud of me. And ignorance. She's going to keep her eyes down because she is ashamed of the person she used to be. I actually left because my father put air love on my unit, and I thought that was wrong. I know now that I was the one who was wrong. Tessie's going to reach over and just sort of pat Jodzia's knee.

How about we focus on something a bit more in the now? Are we going to discuss your demonic problem anytime soon? Jodzia's going to go about as pale as she can go, considering, and kind of glance up like, how the fuck did you know? But she's not going to say anything. She's going to ask with her face. I saw the books you were looking at, and you have a demon strapped to you, dear. And she's going to motion down to Sheldon, who's been sort of circling Jadzia's feet the entire time. Right. Right. And then she's going to kind of push down on Sheldon's head until he lies down.

Like he's a dog that hasn't learned commands yet. Just go. Sheldon is not going to get the hint until the fourth or fifth time, Jadzia. And it gets a little less gentle each time, just like, no, down, down. And eventually, he's like, just sort of like deflate almost into the ground. Still can't decide if he's cute or gross. I really can't. He's like one of those ugly rat dogs. You're like, oh. Yes. Yes. I've made a lot of mistakes. And there's still one that I have to take care of. And she's going to kind of go silent because she doesn't know what else to say.

Like she's come out and said it to two people, and one of them was half-assed drunk. So it's really hard for her to still find the words. So she's just going to kind of go silent. I recently had a conversation with my son, my other son. Malkus? He was here. And she's going to look up. He's like, OK, wait. How do you know Malkus? [LAUGHTER] All right, now it's my turn to be surprised. Jadzia's going to smile and go, he was in the battle too for a time. And then she doesn't want to say anything bad. She's just going to stop talking. The point is, he's made some mistakes too.

I'll tell you what I told him, that as long as you're alive, you still have opportunities to correct them. And she's going to reach over and grab Jadzia's hand. You have people that care about you. And I get the sense that they would do pretty much anything to make sure that you're safe. Jadzia's going to squeeze her hand a little bit and nod. This is going to seem really awkward, but that's because she's kind of an awkward person. And she's just going to immediately change the subject. And she's going to go, what were they like? She's looking down at the letter again.

She's not reading it, but she's just kind of looking at the letter. Valis doesn't talk about his childhood. She's going to let go of your hand and sort of sit back in the chair. Valis and Malkus have always had a strained relationship. They both loved their love, and they both did what they could to take care of her before she left. But they've never really seen eye to eye with each other. When Malkus eventually decided that he wanted to be a famous adventurer and find his fortune out in the world, that's the last we saw of him for nearly two decades.

And Valis has never dealt with that very well. There was always tension between the two of them, but I don't know if that's something that can ever be fixed. One day I'd like to try. As you said, as long as you're alive, you can keep trying. Putting them in the same room is what I'm worried about, as far as that goes. Betsy is going to kind of do a little half laugh and just nod. That might be a bad idea. I think my mistake might have been darker than your son's. Have you ever heard of a man named Darmok? I think I've heard Graddick mention him offhandedly once or twice.

When I was 15, he came to my village and took me as his wife. And for many years, he kept me like a doll or a pet. And to get away from him, I made a deal with a demon. That's why I'm looking at those books now. And she's kind of shaking because, first of all, she's only ever told two people. Second of all, this is her mother-in-law, so she's already kind of scared. Well, if you need help with any research or assistance, just let me know. I'm actually in the right position to be able to offer some help. And I would like to be able to use the resources of this house for something good.

Jodzia is going to nod. And after a few moments, she's going to say, right now, I think I have most of what I need. But I don't want to put my friends in danger or valous. I think the most important thing is making sure that they don't know when I'm about to go and getting away quickly. Tessie's going to cast her eyes down a bit and just sort of-- she's thinking about something for a moment. She is going to stand up from her chair and sort of just bend over and whisper something in Jadzi's ear. And then she's going to stand up straight again. I really do think you're good for Valis.

I hope things work out between the two of you. And she is going to get ready and leave the room, unless you're going to say something to stop her. Probably not. Unless anyone has anything else they'd like to do, then we'll just pick up things in the morning. I'm pretty sure Merrick would try to get up and make pancakes for everybody. Excellent. God, actually, I need to go for some pancakes. Yeah, some pancakes, some sort of berries, something sweet, but not-- Not the fucking berries you were eating in the woods. No, no, no, no. Yeah, not those, please. That's special.

Just the local berries, the bright port blueberries. All right. So Merrick is making pancakes for us all. Berries, berries pancakes. Not too sweet. He's not going to be overdoing it. The sweetness is going to come from the fruit. And the compote that he's been making is not going to come from syrup. That's ridiculous. We don't want to do that. It's like putting ketchup on flame and you're like, come on. Jason, I have a question about Theria real quick. Is there any equivalent to coffee? There is, actually, yeah. I mean, it's not coffee beans, but yeah, they have-- Yeah.

OK, like a strong tea. It's not all alcohol. Yeah, there's-- Right, OK. Yeah, I think that's what's going to happen with the pancakes. He's going to need it. So he's going to have it for everybody. And again, this is a massive kitchen. This is-- Oh, I mean, he's going crazy. He's so happy. So every once in a while, David will check in and say, anything you need? That kind of thing. And I would imagine just Merrick is zipping around, just-- Jeweling. Yeah. Is everyone else pretty much milling around the downstairs area-ish? I brought a book with me, but yes. OK.

After a while in the morning, this little gnome is going to just sort of walk in uninvited, didn't knock, just walk in. And he is going to move past everyone, not say a word, and almost try to push Una aside. I weigh like eight times as much as you do. Yeah, no. It's not going to happen. It's more of a just get out of the way, move. Can I pick him up? If you want, sure. If you want to roll an athletics check. OK, so like a low athletics check will be fine? This is not going to be very high, no. Good. Which is a good thing. So as he's moving past Una, again, just move, move.

Just try and symbolically one-handedly push Una out of the way. And Una's going to reach down. And how do you want to grab him? Because again, you got him. But-- Just buy the shirt or jacket or whatever, just grab both shoulders of it, and just pick him up. To face-to-face sort of thing. When you pick up a kid who's really fucking up, they're picking a dog, and you just scoop him up like, fuck you. So he is going to be a little startled at the fact that you just pick him up. And he is-- hey, hey, hey. Just very, very like, hey, who do you think you are? That kind of thing.

And Una's just like, who the fuck do you think you are waltzing in here? I happen to know the owner. You can put me down right now. Yeah, so do we. I've known her longer than-- hey, wait a second. You were in the Evergreen. Oh, right, we've met him, haven't we? Yeah. Briefly? Briefly. You've met him-- you met him long enough to know that he's a scumbag. Right, right. Oh, yeah. I remember you. Skeevy little bastard. Is that not your name? I prefer Grattic. Again, you can put me down anytime you like. I don't like. Grattic is going to try and kick Una. Oh, that's sadly adorable.

Jadzia's going to sigh really loudly and make a show of turning the page in your book. Like, come on. This is not going to go well. 11 against Una's AC. So he is going to kick Una's breastplate with his dress shoe and do nothing. Did he kind of hurt his toes? Like, he wouldn't show it, but he kind of hurt his toes. Tiny, tiny bit. Like, he kicks with some authority and then just like nothing. Just like the tiniest little noise. Una's just going to like see that-- or do I have to roll perception to see that he like winces a little bit? I would, yeah. Again, not a supremely high check.

You're right in his face. That'll do it. - 17? Yeah, that'll do it. OK. Una's just going to like grin. Like, holy fuck, you hurt yourself by kicking me. And then she'll just like not lower him down, just open her hand so he just like falls. I just smack her hand on the table. [LAUGHTER] And I just like, what are you here for? OK, Grattic is going to-- OK, while not a tremendously high fall, it is a few feet off the ground. So he is going to fall over. He's going to hit the ground and fall over. And he is going to quickly scramble back to his feet and start to dust himself off.

And then he's going to, as best he can, square up with Una. Just like walk. Oh my god. All right. I'm going to let that slide because you have no idea who I am and how important I am in this town. So I'm going to let that slide. Ooh, Mr. Important. Ooh, Mr. Powerful. Ooh, Mr. Fucking Scumbag. OK, in the old days, I would have sicced him on you. And he points over to Valus. Valus-- Good. [LAUGHTER] Do you say good? Yeah. OK, Valus at first is sort of grumbling at Grattic. And then when Una sort of speaks up good, he narrows his eyes at Una. And Grattic's going to continue.

But I have some important business to take care of this morning. And I don't have time for this. Again, I will let that one slide. And he's going to start to back up, but he's going to widen his eyes and hold a finger up like I'm watching you. And he's going to back up and start to just make his way back through the house. Did he turn his back to me? After he gets several steps away-- Yes. Can I flick him in the back of the head? You-- God. Can I? Yes, if you want. Do I have to roll for that? Are you just-- OK, are you just leaning forward and flicking him?

Or is that like a slapping him? It's just a flick, just like a pfft. Yeah, totally. You don't have to roll for that. That's just you leaning him. Well, as soon as he turns his back, she'll just lean forward, just flick him really hard in the back of the head. OK, he's going to spin around. All right, that's it. Tessia! Like, he is yelling for Tessia now at this point. This is so entertaining. I'm such a bully. He's going to shout a couple of times, and then Tessia is going to walk into the room. You want to tell your hired goon here to keep her goddamn mitts off of me?

And Tessia is going to look down at Grattic and then up at Una, and then not really narrow her eyes at Una, but she's assessing the situation, and then look back down at Grattic. What did you say to her? And he does this fake "I'm hurt by that" sort of thing with his hand and his chest. Are you kidding me? After all the years we've known each other, you're going to take her word over mine. She didn't even say anything. Look, she's not defending herself at all. Una's just grinning, like ear to ear, like, this is fucking great. How about we just jump to why you're here today, Grattic?

And she looks exasperated. Like, this is not an uncommon occurrence for him to just waltz in here. And Grattic is going to give one last look back at Una, and he's going to mumble something. Perception? Go right ahead. Insight? What does that-- That would be perception. OK. Boop. 15? He-- it sure sounds like he just called you a moron. Oh, god. It sure sounds that way. You can't be 100% sure. He could have called you a Mormon. You're not sure. Do morons exist in Theria? No, they don't. So he probably didn't call you that. Do morgons exist in Theria? Is there anything this could be other than morons?

He could have thought your name was Morgan. Or Dorgan. Can I react with violence? If you want. I've been talking to you before. Yeah, really. Since when do you ask? I don't know. Just making sure everyone's OK with me beating up Una. Oh, you didn't ask that. You asked if you could respond to violence. OK. Wait, did you ask that out loud, like, to Tessia? That'd be hilarious. Actually, OK. We're just going to point at him like a kid pointing at, like, he hurt me or something. And just point to him and be like, can I respond to violence? She's going to hold a hand up to Una and just sort of give a look like, come on, I need one of you to be mature here.

Just give me a second. Not a words-spoken, just like, hmm. He's going to flick him in the back of the head again. This time, Greta's just going to kind of scamper, like, a few feet away from Una and towards Tessia. And then he's going to straighten his little tie and dust himself off once again. All right. I'm having a little trouble with my former employers over at House Silverclaw. It's really just a minor thing, but it would be great maybe if you could step in, show some influence, let them know that I'm attached to this house now and that I'm untouchable.

That would be great. And Tessia's going to look at him narrower eyes. What kind of trouble? They kind of want me dead. But again, it's really not a big deal. If you step in, you say, hey, he's with me. You know, they can't touch me. So let's go. Let's go do that. She's going to look at the group. Have any of you heard anything about Silverclaw in the last few days? OK, I guess Una will just put a hand up, like, call on me, please. And Tessia's just sort of motioned with her head. Go ahead. A lot of punch-ups. Seriously, violence. Is that on the table? I don't know what to say.

We ran into an enclave of them in Esterhold, led by a guy named Seraph. We had intense negotiations with them over control of the town. But the dragon arriving and other things seemed to kind of make their influence there less pertinent. So we left. Graddick's going to kind of pipe up. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Did you say Seraph? Yes. He may be related to me. That's not a shocker. Excuse me? He said he was with Silverclaw when he was in Esterhold. Una's going to look at her other partymates for confirmation, like, yeah, that's what he said, right? And Graddick's going to look around at everybody.

Dubsia's still trying to read, but she'll nod. She nods, Israel. You, Twiggy, what about you? He's going to point at Kaluna. Kaluna will kind of look up, like, sort of-- They were kind of zoning out now that the violence stopped. And they'll sort of, like, they'll blink and kind of, like, lower their coffee stuff. And kind of be like, huh. Mud. They drink the same stuff as everyone else, guys. But they'll just sort of blink, like, huh, what are we talking about? And as soon as he sees that you're not paying attention, all right, Graddick's going to start rubbing his little hands together.

Oh, that is fantastic. OK, OK, OK, we can use this. We can use this. OK. He left Silverclaw weeks ago. He has no affiliation with them, which means he's making a play for a new city. And he's going to start to make it towards the door. And he's going to sort of slap Una's, like, thigh, like, right in the arm. Just like, She-mail, let's go. Come on. [LAUGHTER] Una will, like, look like a muse. Like, this took a turn. But she'll follow him out. On the 26th day of the month of Amada, in the year 1263, a young group of adventurers had been gathered in the courtyard of the Overwatch.

The past few weeks had not been kind to the city, and tensions between its people were high. This group had been formed completely of volunteers. The only thing they were told about their mission was that they were going to, quote, "help make Theria a better place." And you're standing in front of the captain of the guard of the city, which is Poe Chutillo. And he's sort of sent for you to gather. You are going out on your first mission today. And that's pretty much all you know. So standing next to Poe is this frail-looking girl who is kind of gaunt and pale.

Doesn't really look like anybody else in the city. And Poe is pacing back and forth in front of the group here. He's sort of walking down the line and looking each one of you up and down. And then he's going to turn back and walk towards this frail girl. And he's going to whisper something to her. And if you would all like to roll Perception to see if you can hear this, this is going to be a fairly high check. OK, so Cole-- Cole is going to hear Poe approach this girl and say to her, are you sure these are the bunch you want? And you're going to see her nod.

And after a second, he's going to say, OK. And he's going to get ready and turn and head back towards the group. OK, I'm captain of the guard, Poe Chutillo. You six, you have all been chosen as part of a huge initiative we're going to be kicking off here in the city. I'm going to tell you what you're going to be doing. And then if you want to walk away, we completely understand this is a volunteer project. You are under no obligation to leave the city and take this on if you don't feel like you can handle it. But if you take on this project, we expect you to at least try to follow it through.

You all understand? What's the mission? And he's going to look over to Cole. All right, we'll just cut right to it. How much of any of you have really explored Theria? I've done quite a bit. How would you describe the experience? Do you really want me to answer that? Because you probably don't. I'm the knuckle. The point is we all know that there's some problems out there. And we are in a position where we can do some good and help some others out. There are people who have very little or nothing. And we happen to live in a city where we have extra building materials.

We have extra food. We have safety and shelter. And there are many places on this continent where the kind of things that the Overwatch has taken for granted for a very long time would be held in very high regard. So there are several groups that are going to be leaving the city. You are one of them. What we're going to be trying to do is make Theria a better place, one town at a time, one settlement at a time. So what settlement were you thinking about us going? Well, today we have a shipment of supplies heading to Durinhollow. And Ingrid's going to laugh.

Have you ever been to Durinhollow? Recently, yes. I can guarantee you it's in better shape now than it was when I visited. That's not saying much. Look, we all know what we're asking you to do here. And to be honest, under normal circumstances, I would not blame you if you just walked away right now. But the town has been taken over by the ravens weeks ago. They are in the process right now of rebuilding and actually setting up a stable income that doesn't involve whoring and slavery. So hopefully we can turn the town around. They need building supplies, though.

They need lumber. They need tools and food. That's what you lot would be doing. You're going to be escorting a caravan of goods and lumber to Durinhollow and then meeting up with a woman named Laren Grace. Now, my understanding is that someone made a sizable donation a couple of weeks ago. And they're going to be using that money to rebuild the town. All you have to do is make sure that this stuff gets to them in one piece. To be honest, you really shouldn't encounter anything like bandits or anyone that would be interested in a caravan because it's building material.

It's not like it's worth anything to anyone outside of someone building a house or a business. At the mention of slavery, Cole's eyes are going to narrow. And he's going to go, when you say slavery, what exactly do you mean? Well, are you familiar with the Nouval? Let's find out. What do I roll? History. All right. I have nothing there. So just a regular 20. Nine. You've heard of the name. You're not really sure what they do. I mean, you know, Nouval, slavery. They go hand in hand. But I mean, you don't really get the gist, the full scope of their operation. Right.

We're finding out Cole is perceptive, but not necessarily a history buff. Right. Not entirely, if you can enlighten me. Well, up until very recently, Durn Hollow made its money off of two things. One would be prostitution. And two would be a large scale slave trade. No offense, but they would take people like you, pit them against other slaves, see who is tougher, and then normally sell them off to gladiatorial games, like the one in Own a Call, or just slave labor, to be honest. And that's the kind of thing we're trying to put a stop to. Will they still be there?

No. No, no. They've been taken care of a while back. There was another group that took care of that problem. That won't be a problem for you lot. Your one sole goal right now is to just get this material to that town. Honestly, if we had the manpower, we would send a battalion out with you. But as you may have noticed, things are a bit stressful in the city, and we may need every hand that we can get if things take a turn to the violent. Does this sound like something you can handle? I think I can. Absolutely. Do I have to build anything once I get there? No.

No. No, there's people to take care of that. You can unload it for them if you like. But yeah, no, they'll take care of you once you get there. Laren will probably have something for you to do. I'm sure she's got her hands full. But yeah, beyond that, you're fine. We didn't hire you because you're excellent craftsmen. I appreciate that. It's really not my wheelhouse. Like we said, you are not the only group that is going to be doing what you do. We will expect you to check in and-- oh, here, actually. And he's going to produce what looks to be a bracelet, kind of a large, almost a bracer.

And he is going to sort of brandish it. Which one of you would you say is going to be in charge, for lack of a better term? I look around. I'm equally looking around. I'm looking down at the floor. I'm looking down at the floor, too, kind of twiddling my hands. I'm going to reach out and just take the bracelet. OK. Oh, snap. He's going to look back to Bree and just-- go ahead and roll perception for me. I am not bothered by anything I see because I don't see anything. OK. I can see it. God, you can see everything. Yeah, Cole and Evelyn are going to pick this up.

He's going to sort of bat an eye back to Bree, just like this bitch. Like this-- just the fact that you snatched it out of his hand instead of-- I didn't say I snatched it. No, just that you didn't answer the question. It was more like, I'm just going to take it. It's just like, this chick. I'm going to kind of narrow my eyes at him. I fold my arms and chuckle lightly. Yeah, she's going to kind of give this really small smile, like just kind of-- more that he was-- more that he takes a little offense at it, just kind of-- I'm going to look at Aaron and say, you should realize you should never volunteer for anything.

Ever. Never volunteer. I'm not volunteering for anything. I'm just ready to get towards Dern Hollow so we can be of some help. He's going to nod. OK, well, that's going to allow us to send you messages when we need them. And trust me, it'll stand out. You'll know when we're sending you one. Well, we've given you everything you need. You're completely outfitted. Anything that you might want to do before you leave the city, go ahead. And other than that, the caravan's ready to take off when you are. We got this. I'm going to give him a slight nod. I'm going to give you a little salute.

He's kind of like fiddle with his hand, like he's going to salute and then just kind of awkwardly wave. It's like, OK, bye. And he is going to turn back towards this girl and they're going to start to walk away and kind of have a little conversation. Eve's drop, see if we can hear what they're saying. Yeah, I was just about to say the same thing. OK. They're in the process of walking away, so it may be a little harder to pick up, but let's see if-- I don't even know if I should even roll. Yeah, everyone just-- Nope. I hear nothing. Yeah. Much like real life.

I'm not sweet. I'm not sweet this time. Nope. Hey, Evelyn, you and me. Woo-hoo. Yes. OK, so now that we've established that none of us hear anything. Not that time, no. We know nothing. Anything, though, that you want to do before you leave the comfort of the Overwatch, then now's the time to do it. Comfort. Well, OK, in that it's not the savagery of the open road or camping in the woods. I mean, it is a city. You are sheltered. You have food and water and everything you need. It's not exactly hospitable to some of you. I'm going to-- since it's obvious that we're getting ready to head out, I'm going to walk over towards the side of the road, whatever, towards the building.

I'm going to hold out my hand. And my little pet rat is going to run towards my hand. I'm going to scoop him up since we're getting ready to go. Does your pet rat have a name? His name is Hunter. OK. If no one's going to stop me, I'm just going to start walking towards the caravan. Eloraf's going to follow you. I'll join. No, isn't it Evelyn? I would have joined. I would have joined, yeah. Or Hunter and I are following as well. All right, guys, you are hitting the open road. Well, so he was-- so he was nervous, wasn't he? Yeah. Well, he is new at his job. You can't really blame him for being a little nervous.

And besides that place, ugh, I'm glad I'm not in charge. As we're kind of leaving, I'm just going to kind of like look back at Overwatch and just kind of turn towards them and say, as much as I'm glad to leave, it's all I've ever known. Well, that must suck. It hasn't been pleasant. Ingrid isn't going to say anything, but she's going to give her a look, a suspicious look, because she doesn't dislike humans, but Overwatch has been such a bane that it's hard to imagine what people from there are like. Since Ingrid is too short, I did not notice the look I'm going to go with, because I'm going to be looking back at Overwatch.

I was not looking back. It was probably hidden by her cleavage anyway, so. Yeah. Well, do we have any more info on this-- on Durn Hollow or this-- or this new vault anyway? Can I-- am I able to roll a streetwise check on the new vault, because that would have been more my thing? Or would that have to be a history check? Oh, no, no, no, no. That's-- they're a current thing, so that's also-- yeah, you could do that if you like. The exact same as Colt's history check. Yep. Again, pretty much the same thing that-- you've heard of the name. You know that they're synonymous with slavery.

You don't really know a lot about the ins and outs of their operation. A few things to note. One, you have no horses. So you're walking with this caravan, which is just as well, because the caravan is not going to be moving quick. This is a couple of large sort of flatbed type of wagons that are hauling lumber. And they've even-- they've even stacked up the lumber around food supplies, so it'll be less tantalizing-- less tantalizing for someone to try and rob you. Here's the bad news. Taking the main road most of the way, you will not be-- you will not be bothered.

You will have to go through the mountains, specifically near Betrayal Ridge, which has been known to be teeming with drakes and things of that nature. That would probably be the only real danger you're going to be facing. Now, if you were heading north to Winterhaven, that would be different. That'd be a completely different set of problems. But getting to Durran Hollow is going to take you probably a few days at this rate. And it's-- you know, there will be some camping. There will be some things like that. So let's do this. Let's roll a d20. Who would like-- who would love to roll a d20 here?

I would. Just a flat d20. Oh, man, I almost just dropped it in there. Oh, my god. Whoa! Oh, god. No. No. First failure. Oh, no. What's that drop? A hundred trips and falls, and the cart just rolls over. Sorry, guys. I apologize in advance. You're fine. You're fine. No, she's not. Don't let her-- don't-- don't-- don't-- We actually all hate you now. Now I'm going to give you a side eye. We'll save that for later. Right now-- That does not go to good. You have spent most of the day on the road. And you have reached a little portion of the mainland just past White Wolf Valley, where you are-- you are heading toward Betrayal Ridge.

There's an area between the Betrayal Ridge and the Black Rock Mountains, which is a lot of-- it's a mountainous area, but not a lot of huge peaks and stuff. It's a lot of ridges and things. Now it is up to you whether you would like to keep pushing through this area. And this is-- this is nightfall now. You're just reaching this mountainous area, so travel's going to slow down firstly. It's going to be twice as bad at night. Or you can make the decision to set up camp. Now the role that you just made has nothing to do with this decision. I want to make that clear before you make your choice.

Does anybody have a good nature that we can check to see if this area is known for anything? I do. I have a plus. I have a plus 10. I do. Oh, yeah, I just have a seven, so. Cole, teach us the ways. Yes. I got a 29. 29, excellent. But you've got to say it. Cole's very familiar with the area, and he knows that this area is synonymous with drake attacks. The further you get into this mountainous region, especially if you were to scale like Betrayal Ridge or near the Black Rock Mountains, there are many different types of drake that will attack. If you go-- if you really go into the cave systems, that's-- those are really nasty because they will camouflage and leap out at you and ambush.

And that is terrible. So with my 29, would I know where we could possibly stay if we were to stay? You would definitely know these safer spots to camp. Like, you would-- with a 29, you'd be able to find like a natural choke point to park the caravan and to set up camp, set up a fire where you won't draw attention, where you won't-- you-- you-- you-- you-- it would give you the very best chance of not being attacked in the middle of the night. All right. I relay this information to my party. I let them know-- I let them know everything I know about the area, where-- and where I think would be the best location for us to make camp for the night.

I think it's a good idea to make camp. I agree. Yeah, I'm down with that. Beholder of the bracelet will also agree. [LAUGHTER] Is that how you're going to refer to yourself this whole time? [LAUGHTER] No. Maybe. Maybe. I'm kind of a big deal. [LAUGHTER] So setting up camp, you guys have a campfire going. You-- you know, you're letting the horses get some-- get some much needed rest. You are parked for the evening. I am actually going to ask Erin why she joined the White Ravens. I'm going to not really focus on Ingrid. I'm just going to kind of like-- you know, I'm just going to be kind of like playing with Hunter, kind of with my fingers, whatever, just kind of like mulling over, like, what I'm going to say, really.

And I'm going to phrase this and say that just because I have lived my whole life in the Overwatch doesn't mean that I believe in what they were doing. Were you a civilian? Yes. What did you do? I am going to hold up my violin, gesture towards my clothing, which is fairly well worn and just, you know, obviously not of high quality. And I'm going to say I am your friendly neighborhood bard. Then Cole's face is going to light up a bit, and he's going to smile. He's going, oh, that's pretty cool. You know any stories? I'm just going to-- I'm just going to kind of-- I'm just going to kind of smirk, and I'm going to say, I don't know if you guys are ready for the kind of stories that I feel like telling.

And then he's going to look at Ingrid and be like, what about you? What about me? Why did I join the White Ravens? Well, I've traveled around Theria all my life, and I've seen what's been going on. And the Overwatch, everything they did brought pain and misery to the people around. It made my life difficult. It made my parents' life difficult. So I thought I'd do what I could to help. I mean, it's not like they're very fond of people of my type anyway. Why are you a murderer? No, just not a human. That was enough for them. Stupid reason if you ask me. Super reason to look down on anybody.

Well, people look down on me quite a bit anyway, so I can't complain about that. But I prefer they don't do it while killing people. And did you? Why did you join? Nothing else better to do. That's a good enough reason to do a lot of things. And Ingrid's going to smile, but it's getting late, so she is going to nod off. And so as Ingrid nods off, whatever, and Erin has been keeping her own counsel for a little bit, and then I'm just going to look at Cole for a second and then just kind of look back down and kind of quietly say but so that he can hear, well, I think we all want to feel like we've made a difference, give a quick nod and kind of make myself comfortable for the night.

So I guess for any-- as really Diane is going to get the staff, she's going to kind of go over and look at it for a second just kind of like she doesn't really want to, but she's going to kind of pick it up and clearly not intending to use it, which is-- Are you sure she really doesn't want to? Yeah. She doesn't, I mean. But she doesn't, so I'm not using it. OK, so-- On the road heading toward Durnhollow, I want everyone-- no, actually, you know what? I would like-- I would like one of you to roll a flat D20 for me, please. OK. I got it. If I don't. OK, 17.

Hopefully that's a good thing. You are going to slowly make your way toward Durnhollow on foot, completely-- yeah, completely uninterrupted. Nothing's going to bother you, nothing's going to happen. Arriving in Durnhollow, this is a slightly different town than the last time you saw it. One, all the Overwatch troops have been cleared out. You are going to see children. You are going to see that there was quite a battle here. After you left, you sort of left things to Poe and the ravens. They had to stand up against the Overwatch troops that you left behind.

And you know as a result of that that Ellis Airway lost his life and the ravens lost quite a bit of people fending off the Overwatch. So in place of the Overwatch troops are now-- well, they're now not ravens. And the town is sort of undergoing construction and a couple of other things. They're trying to patch up windows and some random damage that happened as a result of the fighting. Is this a thing where you're stopping in town? Or are you just pretty much breezing through? No, we want to stop. Stop. So could we find a leader of the White Raven forces in the town?

Well, do me a favor and roll a perception check to see what you would see a little more in depth. So everybody roll Diana. Let's do Diana. Oh, great. Hey, that's not too bad. Not at all. Diana is actually going to spot a tiefling woman wearing one of the White Raven armbands. And she appears to be barking orders to several people. So Diana would gather that this person of the people left in town would be either in charge or up the food chain a bit. OK, so then I guess the rest of the group going to come with me as we go towards them. Yeah. OK. They'll just be approached her then.

She is not going to notice you approach her. She is clearly involved. There's a small group of people around her, up three people. And you can hear her give instructions to them. They're trying right now to find a place to house all these children. Because what was happening before were they pretty much-- they were living-- they were sort of squatting in abandoned houses. And they would actually be out during the day. And well, the party encountered them. Yenward actually encountered them. Mm-hmm. I remember them kids. Remember them kids? They owe me about 14 gold. [LAUGHTER] So yeah, that's sort of their day job.

Yenward, roll a perception check. OK. Actually, I'd let Draconis roll one too. Because he threw fire at them. Yeah. Put a firewall up. He's still setting fire. One second. Oh, goodness. OK, there it goes. Roll a 16. I was about to give you some bad news. That's OK. I'm used to it today. Ooh. We're twins. We're twins. 16. Yeah. Twinsies. While the children definitely have a look to them, they definitely-- they all kind of have that street urchiny look. You're not going to notice any one of them specifically. It's like, hey, that's Fred. I know Fred. You're not going to notice any one of them specifically.

But they do all kind of have that Oliver Twist look to them. As far as the woman giving orders, is this like a thing where she's like, just like, oh, here, do that. And it's going to be done in like a minute or so? Or is it more extensive? Oh, they have projects going in town. This town is in disarray. In the last month, a portion of it was set on fire. They've lost a lot of their income. Slave trade has been neutralized in town. They've sort of lost connection with the new vol. And when the rest of them find out about it, that's going to be a problem for them.

They've had the Overwatch squat on top of them. They've had some trouble. They have some extensive work to do here. So this is not something that's going to be-- OK. Does anyone else react to the group? We're not exactly subtle. No. Well, not right away anyway. Can I do a perception check on the lady? On the-- On the-- She's short. Go right ahead. 11. Guys, it's Malcolm. So she's actually kind of like sort of large for a female tiefling. A little more muscular than you're used to seeing. OK, I was about to ask. Distinguish what you mean by large. Yeah, I know. A little on the muscular side.

She is used to-- she is obviously wielding weapons, not magic. She is wearing sort of like scale armor. And she's actually-- she's a warrior. Like you can tell. She is absolutely used to tanking on the front line. She's got kind of a gruff tone when she's talking to people too. You're also noticing that. Oh, and after-- Oh, go ahead. Sorry. I was going to say, can Duncan run a streetwise check to see what people around the town think about the White Ravens coming in and kind of-- Yeah, go ahead. Over here? OK, cool. Finally, I can do a streetwise check for something real.

Hey! Yeah. Jeez. Well, they're all still sort of mourning the loss of Ellis Arroway, who was pretty much-- he was pretty beloved here for the most part. He didn't really have too many enemies. Other than Hondo and maybe one or two other people, there weren't many people who wanted to see him dead. They knew that deep down he was trying to make this place better than what it was. A lot of people are breathing a sigh of relief because there are no new Vol, no Overwatch. But there's a lot of worry coming in from how are people going to make their living. They have a temporary brothel set up, but construction was started by the Overwatch to fix the old one.

And now that's been suspended until they can get more building materials and that sort of thing. OK, and I will also ask if there's any kind of remnants of the new Vol here at all. Like maybe-- You know. OK, so there's no rumors going-- OK, gotcha. No, no, no, no. All the slaves have been set free. And that's the problem. The new Vol's home base of operations is in Bandit's Rest, which is quite a ways away. Once they get word that they have no agents in Durn Hollow anymore, their slave trade there has been completely neutralized, that's going to be a problem.

Just want to make sure it wasn't a Blackhand situation where underground shit was going on. All right. Diane. Oh, sorry. Oh, go ahead. No, go ahead. Sorry. I was going to say, I have a little question. This little shop that I know about, is it still intact and around? Because I kind of need some stuff. Oh my goodness. I'm just saying, I'm out. It's not a Pokemon century. You have to pay for it. It's a Pokemon century. Well, the problem is after Ironhide and Draconis so thoroughly threatened that poor woman-- I would say more angry. She had a heart attack and died from the stress.

She left town. She left town the next day. Would my streetwise check be good enough to find out if there's any purple floating around town? Oh my. OK, your streetwise would get you-- yeah, any bloodroot in this town has dried up. It's gone. Get out of here. OK, so I relay that information to Draconis. OK, gotcha. Not happy. That way Draconis isn't going around burning down buildings for no reason. That's actually the perfect reason to go burn down buildings. Maybe if you use your Rod of Wonder, you'll get some blood. Question. That's a good comment. That's a possibility.

Is it now? OK. I see. Anything can happen. Anything can happen with the Rod of Wonders. I'll think about it. I got brought back to life by the Rod of Wonders. OK, so I guess this goes to-- yeah, Diana, you're the best diplomat. OK, so yeah, she's going to approach and just wait for-- not interrupt her in the middle of speaking, but wait until she's done with one phrase or saying something. Just excuse me. She's going to stop and sort of side-eye just a little bit. She's going to turn her head just enough so she can see. Out of the corner of her eye. And then slowly wheel around and look this party up and down.

You guys look horrendous. Hey. Thanks. You do. I'm saying-- She's going to nod at her. --you haven't-- you have been through some shit in the last week or two. I mean, if you really want-- it's been a long time since you have really taken care of yourselves. Like, you'll get a rest. The closest thing you came to was sleeping in Castle Overwatch. We could have taken like a bath sort of thing in a river at some point. I don't know. Oh, this isn't about your smell. This is about just you generally. Like, there's a lot of scrapes and cuts. I mean, you just generally look haggard.

Like, you're always on the run. You almost never get actual true rest. We slept in a cave. You slept in a castle in the middle of a revolution. That's our style, man. I'm just saying. Don't judge us. We haven't slept in a bed. Yeah. You've slept in the Overwatch. You slept in a bed. Yeah, in Overwatch. That was good rest. I was talking more about the last two where we were in caves, you know. Caves aren't half bad. Caves aren't half bad, everyone. That's-- Yenwerk used to sleep in a crypt. Yeah, I was about to say, Diana has experienced much, much worse than anything, so you know.

Caves are pretty nice. [LAUGHTER] She's going to look over this party and sort of look you up and down. Can I help you with something? We have information that needs to be relayed to the authorities of the White Ravens back in Overwatch. All right, what would that be? Duncan pulls out the robe and holds it above his head. Triumphantly. Does she react to this? Just-- She's-- let's see. Hold on a second. Let's see what she-- I just-- I-- I can wait and see what that is before saying anything. That's not Duncan's style. Sorry. No, no, no. It's great for Duncan.

It's just-- this is going to be-- oof, that's a-- that's a crit. She's going to look-- she's going to look like Duncan's going to do this. You bought clothes. Is that what you need me to tell people? Did she say that? Did she say that? Yeah. OK. I'll say, I didn't buy this. I found this. Yeah. Thanks, Ynward. In the face. Face. Because I-- No, I don't do that. This is going well. You pulled it off her body. She's not going to react to that? Diana's just kind of not look at them. Yeah, she's waiting for you to get done and just-- Diana's just distinctly not looking at them.

If I pretend the problem doesn't exist, maybe it'll go away. But I'm just-- the archmage Lord Weaver is dead. This was his. Yeah. [LAUGHTER] So she's-- all right, that's OK. That's what you want me to relay to the people in Overwatch. Yeah. Now can I wear this? OK, let's take a step back. Hold on. Yeah, we're taking a step back. We are the group that killed Shannon Carter. I like the point of my crown. He's a king, and I point at Yin-Ward. [LAUGHTER] At this point, Diana's going to kind of close her eyes, and she's clearly kind of a bit aggravated by what the others are doing.

Well, wait, wait, wait. OK. And Duncan-- yeah, Duncan points at Yin-Ward and says, he's a king, and you should know who I am. And I whip out the guitar. I don't play it. I just-- of course you know who I am. And after a couple of seconds, she's going to lean her head in, and clearly she's doing that as in, no, no, I don't know who you are. That kind of end, that sort of-- Duncan just shakes his head. It's not like he's disappointed that she doesn't know. It's like, man, she's really not with the times, kind of a-- Well, you are out of the loop, lady. You should listen to the radio more often.

That's all I'm saying. OK, she's going to go back to Diana. Diana is the only one who seems to have a clue what she's talking about. To this woman, it's like, all right, one of you is sane. Let's go back to you. So you're saying you killed Zan and Carter. Technically, it was the minotaur. Shitting and ran, and I want to point it back to the crown. His name's Yin-Ward. OK, hold on a second. See if she would recognize the crown. Oh, god. Barely. Barely recognize it. Like, oh, OK. I just want to step in and ask, like, what the hell do you know? That's rude. That was mean.

You asked-- I haven't spoke up yet. This is my first thing I had to say. Come on, now. I'm asking her yes, because she looks like she doesn't know a damn thing what we're talking about. She is going to step up into Draconis's area, just that general-- In this area. Draconis is kind of hulking. Diana's going to audibly sigh. Well, I know that I'm very busy and have about 1,500 projects to do in this town. So if we could speed this up, that would be great. Can you point to somebody who's in charge here? You're looking at her. OK, so Duncan kind of steps in and goes, you'll have to excuse my friend.

We've been through a lot. We're the Knights of Winterhaven, and we got everyone together. And we're friends with the White Ravens. And we got everyone together and fought the war. And then we killed Carter. And then-- well, he killed Carter, and I point to you, Edward. And then he took the crown, and then we chased Lor River. And then we killed Lor River. And then we took his vials. And I got his robe. And that's what happened. Oh, and Hondo died. We were working closely with Liara, and we participated in the group that made her queen of the Overwatch. If that means anything.

Wait a second. You're the ones Poe was talking about. Yes. You sent him here from Winterhaven, right? She's going to nod. You know, we lost a shitload of people thanks to you. I'm going to take a step back. A lot of people have died in the past week. Well, all I know is you set all this in motion and then left. We had to win the war. Wait, can I clarify something, Jason? Sure. Is she talking about us leaving? Oh, she's talking about Durnahalla specifically. She's going to motion around to the town of Durnahalla. OK. OK. Let me try to-- I'll try to talk to her a little bit more diplomatically.

Can I roll my diplomacy check before I talk to her? Sure. OK. To see-- Oh, wow. OK. Awesome. OK. So I say, we were actually traveling with a man named Hondo, who really had an important stake in what happened in Durnahalla. And with how serious the war was, and because we were the ones who kind of got the war going, even he thought it was better if we go and fight that before we come back here and deal with the mess that we made here. She's going to kind of take it in, and then after a few moments-- well, we took care of it. I'll get word back to-- I'll get word back to Liara and Poe.

You're welcome to stay here as long as you need to, by the way. You're fine. Just let me know where you'll be staying. Can I kind of pull Diana aside real quick? Mm-hmm. Should we tell her about what we found? She's going to shake her head. OK. And Duncan just nods. Could you also, when you send word to them, add to that if they could go ahead and send the children here, or at least ensure that they're safe? They going to know what you're talking about when I just say children? She'll nod. All right. Thank you. The man who died, Hondo, he-- but she's just going to pant her a sack of gold.

So if you could-- he worked closely with the children here. And if you could put this towards their well-being, it would be much appreciated. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. How much is in there? Since we're not sure about the exact amounts of gold and stuff, I'm going to probably hash that out with Jason later. But at least 8K? I don't know. Thousands. Yeah, there's almost 10,000. And you just said that like out loud to me? No. No, wait, was that-- I asked that question when I saw the large sack. I was like, wait, wait, whoa, how much is in there? Enough. How much is enough?

How much did he have? This is a fairly large sack. I know, yeah. So she's going to-- she's going to cede your Kona question and then look back to Diana. How much is in here? At least 20, if I had to guess. Probably somewhere around 10,000 gold. Are you shitting me? That's out loud. That's way more than 20. [LAUGHTER] She's going to-- she's kind of gobsmacked. She's going to look to Diana. And you're serious? You're just giving this to us to put towards the rebuilding of the town? I'm going to chime in, too. Yeah, you're serious? Specifically towards the children, if-- Right, no.

It was his money, and I believe this is what he would want. He cared deeply about them. We didn't talk about 10 fucking thousand. Diana's pointedly ignoring your Kona status. I'm going to grab her by the arm. Are you-- I'm going to check you're coming in low. I'm going to grab her by the arm. Are you serious? And say we didn't talk about 10,000. It wasn't a conversation that needed to be had. It was Hondo's money. It's going towards something-- Well, if it's this much, I didn't know it was going to be this much. Those kids don't need that much. This fucking-- And you do?

They don't-- Duran Hollow doesn't need that much money. She's going to step right in front of Draconis. Let her go. It was just about to attack him. I'm not going to lie. That was a good timing. She's going to-- Let's find out if Draconis lets her go first. Yeah, I can let her go. She's going to wrench her arm from Draconis' grass. Wait, that's after I let her go? Yeah. I mean, if you let go-- Just so we can make a show of it. Yeah. Oh. Is it that she's not pleased? Let me tell you something. We're going to be busy here for a long time, and we could use anything that we can get to not just put this town back the way it was, but actually make it somewhere decent, somewhere we want to live.

So yeah, we could use this money. Actually, we could use it a hell of a lot. Yeah, I bet you can. Is that going to be a problem for you? I'm going to look back at Duncan and Yennward. Did you guys know that there was 10,000 in there? I didn't know anything. And you're OK letting that much go? Well, what are you going to do with it? It's not yours, and you never had any claim to it. Draconis-- We could do a lot with that. Draconis, it was good. --by drugs, but they let the kids have it. I don't mean all of it, Jesus Christ, but they don't need that much. It was going to go to the kids anyway.

If Hondo would have lived, he would have given it to kids. He's dead. We give it to the kids. That's what happens. And we'd be having the same conversation right now. No, we wouldn't, because-- Whether he was here or not. Because Hondo would have just done it. He wouldn't have listened to you, and that's what we should do. You guys really want to hand over 10,000 to these guys right now? Can you give him 20 off the top so he can be quiet, please? We are handing them over 10,000. Wow. I'm just going to put my hands up. Wow. OK. I'm going to take a step back, shaking my head.

Oh, my god. So once this starts dying down, she's waiting to see if this is going to be a big issue, because it looks like Draconis is getting louder and louder. And it's like, OK, this guy looks like he could-- because Draconis kind of has a shifty quality about him. He looks like he could burst into violence at any minute. He's this big, hulking dragonborn. And just him getting upset like that is not good, usually, for the people around him. I mean, that's what it looks like. And after it looks like he calms down, she's going to extend her hand out to Diana.

She'll take it. My name's Laren. It's Diana. Nice meeting you. You, too. I want you to know that we really appreciate this. And we're going to put it to some good use. Just going to nod. Can I ask her about where Malchus is? Has she seen Malchus? If you want to. Very sincerely, yes. Duncan's ignorant. So very sincerely, Duncan goes, do you know where Malchus is? So let me have her roll a streetwise. The time it actually works. Nope. Yeah, this chick doesn't know anything. I don't know if she can find that out or not. She's getting some terrible rolls. Yeah, she knows who Malchus is, but has no idea.

Yeah, she has no idea about his whereabouts. I don't know if I trust her. I kind of-- no. Duncan kind of gives her shifty eyes, nods, and starts backing away. Like, hmm. Do we-- is there like a child in charge of that group? Like a senior member or something that we should talk to about how we know? Yeah, I was going to-- do we want to find a place to rest first, I think? That might be in a bed, since apparently that hampers our appearances. The only bed is the brothel, right? Well, they're building stuff, though, so I don't know what's-- I mean, it's a town with beds.

I mean, there's technically-- you could call it an inn. It's sort of makeshift. It was basically someone's house that's been converted. So it's like this little two-story-- like, a few of you would be sharing a bed. How about the brothel? Would we each go to our own bed in the brothel? Let's not go there. You'd probably still be sharing a bed. [LAUGHTER] Nice. You can sleep in brothels. We've done that before. Yes. Diana's going to the inn, and anyone who wants to go with her to there as well. Again, inn is in quotations. Yes. OK. I look at you, Edward. I kind of nudge you, Edward.

You want to go where the ladies are, or you want to go to the inn? No, I got kicked out a window last time. I've never been to one before. You can go kick your keg out of the window yourself. I'm not going. I just follow you, Edward, then. Oh, I guess we need to tell her we're going there, though. Oh, I'd assume that was kind of-- Yeah, that's fine. Still picking class out of my fur. [LAUGHTER] Well, she would knock on the door, and come-- if he said come in, she'd go in. Is he still wearing his armor? Oh, yeah. OK. She'll ask him. She'll be like, as you're resting, did you want-- I'm sorry.

I could tell that your armor's pretty banged up and scuffed. Would you want it cleaned? I mean, it probably isn't comfortable laying in bed with armor. Craig's going to look at Air Love. You don't have to clean my armor. I'm fine. That was really just the guys. You knew Una? Very well, yeah. Did you? I did. You knew she was in the Overwatch? Yes. And he's going to look down just a little bit when he says it. That's where I met her, too. I was in the Overwatch with her. I was on the same special unit, the Crimson Shield. I just wanted to let you know that I know of Bree, and I know Una, and I know that Bree will bring her back.

I just know it. You know her, too, so you know that she'll claw her way out of death. Craig's going to stand up, and he's going to go ahead and hug-- almost like almost kind of a bear hug to Air Love. So initially, stiffen up, but then hug him back. And just like that, he's going to sort of snap out of the funk he's in. You know you're right. He's very much at ease now. He's just either he's chosen to accept that lie in his head. It's like, yeah, it's fine. People die all the time. It'll be fine. He's just putting it aside, or he truly believes that she will come back.

It'll be fine. So either way, he seems to be much more calm. I would say that you guys would be approaching the swamp now. Now, interesting question. You obviously can't dock the boat against the swamp unless you want to run it aground. So obviously, you can just leave the boat and just drop anchor and then just head in that way. Or you can run it aground. It's up to you. It does have that Aladdin call button, right? If Dagon thinks about it, it'll come towards him or whatever. Oh, that's not how that works. Sounds like that's what you want. Oh, like when we're on it?

Yeah, I mean, you guys would have small boats. Like you'd have dinghies that would get you back to the-- We can. Yeah, anchor and hide the dinghies on the shore. Nice. Yeah, no one but someone with elven blood could pilot the thing anyway. So it's not like it can-- you're not going to get boat jacked, really. But we've got some good stuff on the back seat. Oh, yeah, no, I'm totally-- yeah. Just hide it. You're in a rough neighborhood. I'm not saying don't lock your doors. I'm just saying-- Just put a blanket on it. Yeah, there you go. That's the one. All right, let's load a map up for you guys just to start-- not that anything's going to happen.

You're a bad liar. Your voice gets like-- Yeah, and then he giggles like that. We're supposed to believe him. That was me. See, don't you feel-- see? Well, you do it too. Ooh, neat. Colorful. I think before we disembark, Dagon will probably go up to Corey and just ask her, are you ready for this? It's not too late to turn around and do something else. I imagine that this probably happens as they're like tying up the dinghy boats. And Corey will-- she won't make eye contact with Dagon, but she'll say, I'm ready, but I think we need to let our party know what they're getting into.

If this witch is as dangerous as you say, then they have a right to know. I agree. I guess Dagon will turn to address everybody. Do not take this witch lightly. She is probably more powerful than anyone you've ever met or ever will meet. Please do not piss her off. Remain tactful. Remain diplomatic. And always, always be on the watch for anything. Jason, should we roll like a history or something so we know about her? Yeah, I would say that's a pretty good idea. OK. All right. My first good stat. Oh, yeah. Nice. And you said I was done with the 20s. What? Let's see here.

Erloav, Raylan, Dagon, you three. Well, Dagon obviously knows a few things about her. Erloav, for fun. [LAUGHTER] There are-- oh, well, yeah, I guess Craig could roll. Wasn't sure or not. Yeah, no. So 20. So he wouldn't quite be as-- he wouldn't be quite as informed as everyone else. But Erloav, Raylan, Dagon. So there are very few people who live in the swamps of Yemgarh. And she is its most famous resident by far. Now, people have heard tales of her. And at this point, it's almost scary, scary stories people tell each other. That people go into the swamp to seek her out, and they never come back.

But it's never quite made clear if it's just the things in the swamp that get to the people who are seeking her out or if it's actually her. The few people who have had run-ins with her and have lived the tale of the tale are pretty adamant about warning people how powerful she is. And now, Dagon is a perfect example of that. Yeah. No one seems to know where she's come from, how she got there, why she lives there. But they do know that she is a practicing blood mage, that the people who have seen her do what she can do, and that she appears to have been doing it for quite a while.

She is well versed in it. There are some very desperate people out there who have heard tales of her. And they've sought her out looking for help. Not one of them have gotten what they want without paying some sort of price. She is not to be taken lightly is what I'm trying to say. So that would be pretty much what you know. So coming up on this swamp, could we roll like a perception or maybe a nature check? Actually, I think a nature check would be in everyone's best interest. So I would say that you guys have-- you've pulled up on shore. You're hiding your dinghies.

Everyone who wants to give me a perception roll. Everyone who wants to give me a nature roll. I always hide my dinghies. Aw, man. OK. God. It's OK, guys. We're just getting started. Yeah. Actoronus and Erolove are going to-- so the area that you're landed in is kind of thick with greenery, really lush. The ground beneath you is going to squish and make noise as you kind of trample around, which is to be expected. It's really boggy, really, really wet. There does appear to be little paths that you can walk where the ground is soggy and crappy to walk through, very, very muddy, but at least it's solid.

The ground appears to dip away and sort of drop off into thick, viscous ponds. It's not water. It almost appears to be gelatinous in some areas. Who gave me a nature check? Wow. I did. I did, too. OK. Can I do both? No. 22. So Kori's going to have the best nature of the group. And Kori would know that this whole area has a plethora of creatures in it that could spell one's demise. Now, the most famous creature in the area would be Kaelthorn, which is supposedly Tharia's last black dragon. And that's pretty widely known that he makes his home here in the swamp.

And you would have no idea that he's dead. So that would be a concern. Does Craig know? Craig would, yes. OK. All right. Save it for later. Cool. Got that in my pocket. So yeah, that would be-- I don't know what you choose to share with the group, though. I would probably share that we need to be-- not yelling, obviously, but sort of loud enough so that I know everyone will heed these words. Be careful. There are many monsters in the area, including dragons. Dagon, do me a favor. Roll a history check. OK. What this is is it's going to be a check to see how well you remember where she lives in the swamp. 30.

You did all right. Nice. You did just great. You know the way. Now it's just getting there. Natural-born leader. [LAUGHTER] I'm not getting out of this, am I? I don't think so. You're a leader in group two till you die. Oh, god. That is literally accurate. Not the place to see that. Yeah. Oh, man. OK. Trekking through the swamp. Now, Craig's going to stay in tow, and he's going to follow your lead on this one. Because you-- I mean, Dagon's obviously the leader. It's obvious to everyone. [LAUGHTER] Well, before we head out, does he have a weapon? Just-- He has a sword.

OK. I couldn't-- I know I asked that earlier, but I couldn't remember. OK. Just making sure. Yeah. No problem. Give me a dragon tooth. Let's do this. Trekking through the swamp. You're going to make your way in, and it's-- you're entering a really gloomy part of it. Offshore, there's no sunlight here. There's kind of a thick canopy of greenery above you. And what I would like everyone to do is roll a perception check, please. 31. So walking through here, let's see here. Layla and Actaronis, OK. So you guys are walking and talking. You're conversating a bit. And Layla and Actaronis are almost going to walk into this giant spider web.

This thing is huge. We were going to say we were talking to each other, and that's why we didn't notice. We were so impelled in our conversation. You have to have a keen eye to spot it. Unless the sun is shining directly on it, it's really easy to miss. It's almost translucent. But if-- and I'm giving you the option here-- if Corey or Dagon want to warn them about it, they can. Yeah, I think I'd like to do that. OK. Why, thank you. --spider webs. It's very nice of you. Can I not say anything? Can I just pull them back? Yeah, sure, absolutely. Just in case we're being watched.

Grabbing a spider web might be dangerous, though. Oh, no, I think she meant that. I think she meant that. We'll pull them back. Yeah, before they step into it. OK, gotcha. So yeah, the way this thing is, the spider web itself kind of feeds into the trees. And anyone with even a cursory perception check or some sort of knowledge of spiders in general, you realize there are probably some fairly large spiders in those trees that made a web that big. This thing stretches out for 50 feet in any direction. And it sort of blanketed this area in between, sort of weaving its way in between trees.

It's very avoidable. You can walk around it. But you're going to guess that if you weren't paying attention, Actoronus and Leila would have easily walked into this thing. And they could be in some trouble now. Thank you. Thank you very much. [LAUGHTER] Leila would just stand there in horror for a second and then kind of shrug it off and smile at Cory. As she sort of releases, because she wasn't gentle when she tugged them back. As she sort of releases, she's just going to whisper, it's fine, just make sure you keep your eyes open. Should we look around for the spiders that made the spider web?

Can we do a nature history on-- That sounds like a horrible idea. On the spiders and the spider webs, like what might happen if you touched the spider web kind of thing? Oh, yeah, you can roll a nature check, please. Thanks, Cory. 31. Good lord, that's a hard one. Yeah. That would not be a good idea. You can tear down the spider web if you like. That is almost assuredly going to-- if the spiders that made this are still alive, they will scurry down out of the tree and attack you. Now, the spiders in this area, there are two kinds. There is one that is more of a lurking surprise predator type of thing.

And the best you can hope for in a situation like that is that you avoid their web. They are known to wrap up people very quickly and then sink their fangs into them and release a toxin that paralyzes you. And then they slowly eat you alive. Fun. Yeah. Thanks for being so descriptive, Jason. The descriptive one's coming up. Is there a cure for that paralysis? Don't get bitten. And hopefully-- it wears off after 24 hours. Like fully. You'll start to get feeling back. But your extremities will be numb, that kind of thing. But you'll be able to limp away. But if no one's there to help you, it won't be in time.

You'll be dead. But the other type of spider-- and you're guessing that, judging by the shape of this web, that this is the kind you'd be dealing with. Same type of thing, but instead of wrapping up their prey, they sort of spring from trees, sink their fangs into you. And it's a poison that is incredibly fast acting. Even if you had an antidote for it, you got a 50/50 shot if it were applied immediately. You pretty much convulse and choke on your own tongue. Again, fun. Yeah. Yeah, good. So let's not get bit, guys. Yeah, no, that's a very good thing that you would not-- So we still got a little while to go in the swamp.

So I'm going to bust out a power that we're going to use during our non-combat encounter. Inspire competence. Who has the-- Confidence or competence? Confidence, C-O-M-P-E-T-E-N-C. So who has the lowest perception check out of all of us? I have plus 16. You don't need it. Yeah, no. I have plus 5. Plus 5, so Layla, I think you might need it. I'm going to choose perception. And you're going to get a plus 2 bonus until the end of this encounter, which is once we start a fight, basically. Awesome. So yeah, you're rolling plus 7. No problem. Is there a way for me to note that somewhere?

I think we'll all remember. On paper. I don't want anyone getting snatched up by bitten by-- When does it last? How long does it last? Until the end of the encounter. So until we start a fight, because this is technically a non-combat encounter. So do we want to look around to see if we see any movement in the webs or the trees, maybe? Again, easily avoidable if you just want to walk around it. All right, let's do that. OK. I didn't know if you guys wanted to fight these spiders to make sure that anybody else who may walk through here won't get caught by those spiders specifically.

We're not heroes. OK. No one else is stupid enough to come through here, right? OK. Graddick's going to start to make his way toward House Silverclaw, which normally would be suicide for him. The way things sort of work is that if you're affiliated with a house, you are protected by that house. And there's this weird system of checks and balances. It's sort of like being in the mafia and being a made man. Once you're a full-fledged member of a house or under one of their protection, none of the other houses can officially touch you. But there are all kinds of people you can hire to get someone murdered if you wanted to in Brightport.

So since Graddick got kicked out of Silverclaw, he's sort of been scrambling for protection. And now he's technically affiliated with House Dragonkeep, but he's still going to watch his back. And with Novalis in the Filigree of Vaun watching him constantly, he spends a lot of his free time in House Dragonkeep just sort of visiting. Like, he'll come up with excuses to visit and be there. And in reality, it's a safe house for him. He's just hiding. And on the way, he's going to start to-- like, he's walking and then just sort of looking. Like, he has to crane his neck really far up to see Una.

And he's going to start to-- OK, this is great. What we can do is use this information and get them on the Trail of Seraph and get them off of me. And we'll tell him, you can vouch for me that I'm affiliated with Tessia. Everything will be great. We'll take care of two birds with one stone. I'll be safe. That's the important thing. Everyone walks away happy. I'd be so happy to do that for you, but I would like one condition. It's very small. And he is going to stop. And he doesn't even look up at her. What? I would like to meet Seraph again. Why? Because he might be my father.

Oh, you're still hung up on that? It's an interesting thing, OK? He's drow. I'm apparently half elf or something. So it'd be kind of nice to know if I'm half drow. Think that'd be helpful. Well, they'll want to kill him. I don't particularly have any emotional attachment to him. So that's fine. But I want to ask him questions first. OK. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, we can work that out. That's probably no problem. I mean, they're-- well, reasonable is not the word. That's not the word I'm looking for. Amicable. We can negotiate. And you're good at negotiating. And he's going to pat her on the thigh again.

You're new here. You're new here. And he's going to start walking toward Silverclaw again. But he's going to wait for him to walk forward a couple of steps and start feeling unsafe before she starts following him again. It's kind of like, without me, motherfucker, you're out here alone. Well, with Fee, but I feel like Fee's probably not going to help him out too much. I think Fee's just interested in the house, not fucking Graddick. Does Graddick react to Fee following or? He's barely paying attention to you, because you haven't spoken to him yet. And to him, Oona's the muscle.

Anyone that can pick him up is apparently the muscle. That's as far as he's really thought about. A 12-year-old boy is the muscle. That's my muscle. That's Timothy. He's going to be-- but yeah, he doesn't object to you coming or anything. It's more just, until you're of some use to him, he's not really paying attention. But he's going to get to the front door Silverclaw here, and he's going to knock. A fairly large elf is going to open the door and sort of stare down at Graddick. And Graddick is going to look up at this individual, and then he's going to try to march into the house without any-- yeah, not being invited or anything.

He's just going to-- I'm nervous. Hey to see you, Londa. And he's just like-- he's brushing this guy's leg aside. Oh my god. Can I grab his shoulder and stop him from fucking doing that? If you'd like. OK. Do I have to roll for that? Give me an athletics. God dang it. See how quick you are. I guess it's not that difficult. No, it's not really. He's lightweight. 15? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You pull him back. OK. Oona will grab his shoulder and be like, you have to stop doing that. It's rude. And then she'll look up at the elf and just like, hello. We're here to deliver a package.

The elf is looking at each and every one of you. I don't see a package. Oh, good god. Elves have no fucking humor. No, they really don't. They're like Germans. Yeah, they're-- Efficient, blonde, no humor. No. Oona will just look down at Graddock like that. We're bringing him. It's a joke. Oolanda would be very much interested in him. And he is going to grab his other shoulder and start to pull him into the house. And simultaneously, he's going to try and close the door to make sure that he can't get away. Are you just going to sort of funnel in? Like, your foot's in the door, technically.

So you can just like end us. We're here to-- yeah. Yeah. OK. So you two are going to join Graddock. And the door is going to slam shut. And several locks are going to engage. This large elf is going to start to escort you toward Oolanda. And there's a lot of narrow hallways. And this house is set up kind of like a maze. It doesn't look very livable. It doesn't look very furnished. It looks more like a clubhouse, really. And eventually, you're going to get to the one room so far that is fairly furnished. There are bookshelves and nice chairs, a couch. It's nice.

There's a large wooden desk. And Oolanda's going to be sitting down in this room. And as soon as she sees Graddock, she's going to light up. And she is going to reach for the knife on her belt and draw it immediately and just start to walk very slowly toward Graddock. And Graddock is going to start to push back against the elf's hands, like he is trying to get out of this room and realizing, oh, shit, this is not going the way that I would like it to go. And he is going to start to speak up, OK, OK, OK. I understand you're upset, but we come bearing information that I think you're going to want to have.

And when you hear it, I don't think you're going to be too upset with me anymore. And he's going to reach over and just sort of slap Oona's thigh. Oona will look vaguely annoyed that he's on slapping her thigh. But she'll say, OK, first thing, the little shit is under the protection of House Dragon's Keep. Sorry about that. Personally, I wish it was otherwise, but that is the case. The information we do have, however, though, that Graddock thinks will be of interest to you is that Seraph is in Esterhold, representing himself as a member of Silverclaw.

She is now sort of twirling the blade in her hand, sort of pressing it up against her finger and lightly spinning it, like, absentmindedly. And she's going to let loose this sigh. And then sheathed the blade again. Are you sure we can't just stab him right now? That would solve a lot of problems for me. And is going to shrug, like, really, like, reluctantly, like, oh, sorry. Just think there's nothing I can do about it. I'm really sorry. And she is going to side-eye Graddock. You two. And she's going to point to Oona and Fae. Have a seat, please. Tell me more about Seraph.

Oona's going to look over at Fae, like, I don't know, Fae, you spoke to him, I think, more than I did. He showed up to negotiate with us, claiming that he was starting a new wing of House Silverclaw and wanted to start it in Esterhold. We had an associate of his that started off the dealings. Are you still affiliated with him? Technically, yes, but he was claiming to be House Silverclaw. Well, that's absolutely not true. Exactly. Therefore, the affiliation is void. Well, I'll tell you what I'm going to do. We're going to take a trip to Esterhold, and we're going to bring Seraph back here.

And then we're going to murder him, slowly. Do either of you have any objections to that? Not an objection, but a qualifier. And she's going to cock an eyebrow, like, go on. Through a string of surprising circumstances, it may be the fact that Seraph is, in fact, my father. So if you do bring him back, I would like to speak with him. I don't really have any reservations, at least right now, about you killing him, seeing as I barely know anything about the man. But I feel like, as a duty to my forebears, I should know a little bit about my heritage and who this man is and such.

So if you'd let me speak to him before you kill him, that would be wonderful. Lulana's going to look over at the large elf who is kind of standing in the corner. I don't see where that would be a problem. And then she's going to look-- she's going to look over to Fi. Were you actively trying to join House Silverclaw? I was. Are you still looking to join House Silverclaw? I'm interested. And she's going to lean back in her chair. What do you think you'd offer someone like us? I have a fairly unique set of skills that, while I know that they exist in other people, I have not seen anybody else show these skills.

Would you like a demonstration? By all means. And I'm going to look at her for a couple of seconds and take her in and then turn into her. Do you want me to-- Do you want me to roll-- Bluff? Yep, bluff. 24. 24? Yeah, you're going to look pretty much identical to her. And her eyes are-- it's much more-- not shocked, but she is very interested. I definitely think you and I can have a talk. I would like to stop this seraph nonsense in its tracks, though. Whether he knows it or not, he's creating a problem for us. It's quite a black eye to our outfit to have ourselves misrepresented in a completely different city, you understand.

Indeed. The way I see it, we have two options. Either you give us all the information you have-- his whereabouts, how many men are with him-- and then we take our forces and go find him and bring him back here. Or we hire you to do it. You already know the city, it sounds like. You've met him, and you know what you're dealing with ahead of time. Una will perk up at that. Like, that sounds good to her, because she's not actually sure if they would hold up their end of the bargain of bringing him back alive. Yeah, it's kind of 50-50. Yeah, so she'll kind of like look over and feel like, huh, huh?

I'm sure that we can handle the task. Sounds like a fairly simple one. We, of course, can pay you. Is there anything you can give us up front that would make the job easier? He is quite skilled, as I'm sure you know. And he has quite a few followers. So she's going to think about this for a moment. And then she's going to write something down. And she's going to hand it to Una. I want you to hand that to Tessia when you get back. I think she'll find this arrangement more than fair. And then she's going to look over to Gratic and just sort of give this very grim smile.

Now, it's up to you whether you want to look at this note before you hand it to Tessia or if you want to just hand it to her. Would it be like rude to open it in front of her? Maybe not in front of her, but maybe on the way back. Yeah, I'll read it on the way back for sure. Not show it to Gratic, but me and Feek can collude over it. Right. And with that, she's going to pretty much dismiss you unless you have anything else you'd like to say. Feek will say, is there anything that we should be aware of when dealing with Serif? He's a greedy fool, but he's not an idiot.

And you're right to guess that he's just as skilled as you think he is. I doubt very much he'll want to come quietly. How long has he been in the city? He's been there at least a couple of weeks. Presumably longer in order to gather a force that that's as large as the one he has. He can be persuasive. So can I. And she's going to sort of give this half smile. And I would say you have all the tools you need. Do you have any of his personal effects still here? No, he was excommunicated a month ago. He took all of his things with him. Again, you're more than welcome to question him all you like before you bring him back, as long as he's alive when he gets here.

Understood. And she's going to she's going to sort of nod her head like, all right, on your bike, get out of here. Get out of here, kid. Yeah. Walking back, Grattic is immediately going to start to be interested in that little note. All right, what's it say? Um, we'll read the note, not out loud. The note says, and this is addressed to Tessia. We will no longer be pursuing Grattic in any way, shape or form. Though. Your people are doing a job for us, and we think it's only fair that Grattic outfits them for free. Yes. Unua will like tuck the note into like her breastplate or something somewhere where Grattic can't reach it because he's short.

So anywhere above what? Anywhere above what? Yeah. And she just looked at Grattic and kind of like pat him on the head, kind of like ruffle his hair and stick. You owe us a lot is what that note says. And he is going to narrow his eyes at that because he knows something's up. But they're not going to try and kill me anymore, right? Oh, no, you're good, buddy. All right, then. And he's going to he's going to kind of slap her thigh. Then we're fine. We're fine. Let's uh. He touches my fucking thigh. They won't be trying to kill you, but I might. Just murdered him in the street.

That could have gone better. That's how that's like. He's like it to him. It's like like a giddy up. Like, all right, let's go. Let's look like he's like. That's how he like he he knows he has your attention, that type of thing. OK, yeah, I'm not going to tolerate that anymore. Athletics check. OK. To pick him up by the back of his his neck and slam him onto the street. Oh, God. Oh, that'll do it. Oh, all right. Well, this is going to do damage. Not enough to kill him, right? Unless there's a rusty nail face up in the street. Eight damage. OK, that's fine. It's like a bloody nose.

Right. This is this is definitely like you're going to hear laughter for some thugs across the street is just watching. Watching. Well, to them, it's watching a girl kick the shit out of a midget. That's that's kind of that's kind of. But yeah, you're you're beating the crap out of a gnome, which is. Not the noblest thing, but you're in brightport, so it doesn't matter. They're just laughing. We're just going to like lean down like just like a big smile on her face and say, hey, buddy, how about you never fucking slap my thigh again? How about that? That sound good.

And this didn't do a tremendous amount of damage. This is more like. This is pretty much just falling over and using your hands to catch yourself. But you're sore, but you're not. Nothing's broken. Nothing's you know, nothing's bloodied. And he is going to stand up and again, straighten his little tie, dust himself off. All right. You are probably most definitely related to serif. Because he was a dick. But I'm not your fucking guard dog. I'm not your hired muscle, OK? OK, got it. Fine. OK, head back. Muna will like slip the note over to feed just like, hey, check this out.

He's going to read it, smirk and then hand it back and cut like a little kid, like, what's so funny, mom and dad? Why are you guys laughing? And this is very much the thing. He's watching the note being passed around. He's like, this is not good, but you are not going to tell me what this is. And that is bullshit. So getting back to the house, I would imagine you're handing this. You're handing this note to Tessia. Yes. She is going to take a look at it and. She is going to. Not smile, but she is going to. She's going to read over and sort of a look of relief cross with.

OK. Yep, that makes sense. Fine. And she's going to look back up to Una and just sort of nod like, I'm going to take care of it, don't worry. And then she's going to escort Grattic out of the room to talk to him privately about this, because he is not going to take this well. Is there any sort of like religious authority scholars or some shit in the city? In Brightport? Yeah, like not necessarily a temple, but like, I don't know, scholars, people who know things, smart people, book people. Not in Brightport. Not really the town for that. Aubrey would be a great bet for that.

There's a couple of people in Fair Bay you can talk to, but not so much in Brightport, not a not a very religious town. They had a couple of nice temples, but any like demon hunters, people who know about demons and such. There's even about scary fucking religion shit. There's one in Altmore. Where's Altmore? Next town over, basically. Is that like within a day's travel? Like that could be a day trip? Hmm. You wouldn't get back before dark. No, this would be middle of the night. Get back in the middle of night? If you really booked it on horseback. Good. Yeah.

OK. Una will ask Merrick and Fi if they want to go with her. It's like, hey, there's a there's a demon hunter or what is there? Is that a demon hunter in Altmore? Is that what I'm listening after? Or just people who know about demons? Well, there is this person. There was a famous vampire hunter that was born in Altmore, and she kind of made a name for herself. And there was someone in that town that kind of wanted to follow in her footsteps. So, yeah, this person knows a few things. But you would you would essentially just know that there's someone there that lives there that may be able to give you some information on demons.

OK, so she'll say there's somebody who knows about demons in Altmore. Would you guys would you guys like to come? It'll be a long trip. It'll take all day and we'll get back in the middle of the night. But might be worth it. To answer Una's question, Merrick's going to take whatever he's been using as an apron. He's just going to take it off, ball it up and throw it on the ground and be like, yeah, let's go. Fucking do this. Let's do it. You're a crap boy. Yeah. Just to clarify, like Merrick, Kaluna and Fi don't even know why because they don't know about the demon or anything.

Yeah, it's like bottom. Yeah, it sounds good. He's like, yeah, let's go. Wait, why? Kaluna probably doesn't even want to go. They're probably just like, yeah, Merrick's going, let's go. I think I think honestly, Merrick is looking for he's just excited at this point to be able to just do whatever, honestly, because he's been you know, he's his whole world is opening up now. And he's just like, yeah, yes, I'll do it. Let's go. That thing. Yeah. Um, let's see, Fi, Kaluna, Merrick and Una are going to head to Aldmoor. Who would like to roll a flat D20 for me? Not it.

I'm going to do it. There you go. Going for it. Ready? Taking the initiative. Please let it not be initiative. Hang on. Here we go. Fuck, fuck. It could be. It's a three. It's a three all over again. It's a three. But but, you know, 20 is worse. Number one is best. Usually, right? We can help. All right. Seriously, do you want me to roll it? I'll roll it. I'll roll it for real this time. OK, I got a three. I got a three. I got OK. You guys are going to make it. You're going to make it to Aldmoor and you're going to meet up with a lady named Zynorn Finnes, who is a half elf.

You know, quote unquote, monster hunter. That's what she calls herself. And she's very much modeled herself after Liar Brios, who used to live in town years and years ago. Can we like casually name drop Liara's name and like really impress her? You absolutely can. And this is actually, you know what? Do me a favor. Roll diplomacy check. I got this, guys. Oh, you guys, that will be a roll of 20 and 10. Yeah, yeah. That has nothing to do with it. But we're here. Yeah, that is like you guys. You guys have hit it off like you guys are very friendly. She wants to help you out, but it's not.

She just does not have any pertinent information for you right now. The best she could do is like, yeah, don't make a pact with a demon. That would be bad. Don't do that. None of you have, right? Because that would bring thanks, Zynorn. Anyway, glad I could be a little bit off. You can tell us we can't be like, well, what if somebody already has? Well, that's that's what the three comes from. I mean, this is this is a conversation that has taken place. And this is how much you're going to get out of that. And that is next to nothing. Can I ask you something else?

Like what? What she knows about like the afterlife. Do me a favor. Roll a flat D20, someone. Yeah, that's kind of why I think Merrick would have been interested in going on to this, thinking that that was maybe the point of all that. OK. Yeah, there were there were two reasons, like one to ask about demons, see if there's anything she can do to help Jadzia. Clearly, that's not going to happen. Um, so the second one will just be like to figure out if she knows anything about like demons, the afterlife, you know, that sort of thing. Yeah. Roll the d20. 12. OK, so she'll know some shit.

She's going to tell you a story about her brother. The two of them used to actually do this together until. A troll tore him in half. He was. A very devout servant of a monitor their entire lives growing up. And she never really believed in him, never really, never really, you know. Never really listened to him talk about him constantly. And. Before the troll incident. He he got into a scrape where he took several arrows. And they thought he was on the verge of death. And he talked about seeing a bright light. And he talked about he had this feeling of accomplishment that if he were to die, that everything would be fine and he felt very satisfied and he ended up recovering.

And they they got him to a cleric and and and healed him. But. That story always kind of stuck with her. She's never experienced anything like that in her life. That's that's why she still can't really get on board the whole monitor thing. But that's something they had many conversations about after after he recovered. So that's the best she's going to be able to give you any insight wise. Kind of literally had the conversation with anybody in a fucking pub. Pretty much. Yeah. My brother this one time I didn't hear this experience. Yeah, but I literally died.

But again, not everyone fights fucking straw. So you have a bit more of an insight than most people would. Yeah, I guess I know. I thought she would like I don't know something about things. Well, yeah, and the only thing she's going to know is what she's experienced. She's not. I don't know. Maybe like like like like fucking if she if she knows anything about demons, maybe like she fucking knows about like where it turns out she knows very little about demons. Yeah. Well, I didn't fucking know that. Well, that's the point of going on the trip. You didn't know until you got here.

Yeah, I guess I think in the meantime, Merrick would sort of get it, you know, like we're not getting anywhere here. He's going to grab Una and and just be like, all right, if we're going to find out anything about what's going on, where we're going to find any answers at all, it's going to be it's going to we're going to have to find bigger and better. We're going to have to we're going to have to talk to people who really know their shit and we're going to have to find out some answers. We're going to have to ask the tough questions. Are you saying this in front of an organ?

Yeah. Oh, and she's not. She's obviously like a fucking amateur. Well, it's not that she's an amateur. It's just she's a monster hunter, not a fucking religious expert. So. Yeah, I don't think I mean, he's not trying to be rude to her. I just say like, all right. Yeah, this was this was a dead end. I mean, nice try, I guess. All right. We're excited. But look, we've got big questions here, and that means we're going to have to ask bigger places, bigger people. You think we should have asked this from Liara when we are there with her? Like she would have fucking known.

Yeah. So, again, she's going to look a little sullen, like, oh, like, I'm not not as good as Liara. Like, I'm never now. Now we're just being passive aggressive. Well, I guess we are. Collin will pat your shoulder like it's OK. You try. A real monster hunter would have fucking known something about this. But whatever. It's like, thank you for your time. Sorry, this was a dead end for us. We didn't mean to insult your knowledge. I'm sure you're excellent at really, really, really killing things, but that's not unfortunately what we're looking for. That'll smooth things over.

It's like, well, I'm pretty good at killing things. And yeah, she is going to wish you guys luck on your journey back. On the fourth day of the month of Doolin in the year 1261, a group of thugs and whores, simply known as the DRP, were tasked with retrieving the Quellian Enlivra from an ancient tomb in the Silver Glade. The group managed to do this despite numerous setbacks. They now stand at the entrance of this ancient tomb. On the way back to Brightport, is there anything you you would like to do? It should be mentioned that Chavar was knocked out by Kava.

And I guess I'd like to know how you guys would like to deal with that. Push something really heavy in front of the door and just leave him there. Hells yeah. Yeah. Like Jesus. Jesus. So you're expecting him to come back. In about 40 years. So is there who exactly is going to intone Chavar? Is it just all of us? Combined effort? Yeah. Cool. So you're going to go ahead and reseal this door. So you are sealing Chavar back in in in this crypt. Yes. Which after you turn around, would put you right back in the Silver Glade. It it it's it's daytime. So you should have a fairly easy time navigating your way out of here.

Is there anything you'd like to do before you start back or? What did you just say? What did you just say? With what? Is it did you just say it's daytime? We got a fucking vampire in our party. I'm going to cuddle up in my cloak. Well, yeah, I would imagine. Yeah. Guys, we cannot get into a fight. Because isn't my power halved? Oh, yeah. You're weakened in sunlight, like direct sunlight. Yeah. OK, well, guys, let's hurry up. You don't want that. Yeah. So I heard it and then I was like, wait, we can go fucking fight right now. I'm screwed. Well, I would ask that one of you roll a d20.

I'll do it. Tom. I did it, you guys. For everyone at home, I'm the hero. Get ready, motherfuckers. And I'm just going to like dig a hole in the ground and take a nap like an ostrich or, you know, like, sorry, like a shitty anime that I used to like. Which there's a vampire. Get a talking hand. Some fans will get that and they'll be like, oh, yeah, let's move on to Tom's shitty role. Come on. That's a five. Let's let's let's save that five for now. We're not going to address the five right this second. We're going to need that five later. We're going to need it.

We're going to regret that five later. So on the way back to Brightport, is that you guys want to talk to each other? Is there anything? Do you want to address the Chavar situation at all on the way back, or is this pretty much just business as usual? How do you want to how do you want to deal with this? Really quick, who's holding the bowl? The gravy bowl? You are a boss. I thought I was, but I wasn't sure. Yeah, I'm pretty sure. I'm pretty sure you were. Well, I mean, the rationale would be that Dragonborn are immune to a lot of diseases, right? I don't want to hold the fucking gravy boat full of Well, I think we're really careful in not touching it.

I remember that. Well, again, you know that it's it's it's used to complete a ritual. It itself isn't like coated in germ. That isn't that that isn't what it's that isn't what it does. That isn't what it does. I picture like a silver gravy boat and they're just like this liquid sloshing in it. So let's let's let's do this. This is going to take you a while. Now you're going to get back to you're going to get back to your your wagon, which has not been stolen because who would want it? And you're yeah, that's you're pretty much it. Now, this thing has been baking in the sun all day.

It is tremendously uncomfortable to ride in. Does it have a giant brass nipple on it or something? Yes. Yeah, it's a tough one. Yeah, it is pretty much an oven. That is what you're riding in. Guys, we have a traveling sauna. This is one of the most uncomfortable things ever. Like this was so ill conceived when it was me. So you are going to very slowly make your way back to Brightport. Let's say let's say it's nighttime on our way back. I feel like Kava would probably at some point she would acquire the gravy about the pestilence and she's probably going to take it out and on the ride, like internalizing whether or not what she wants to do with it.

Because she's not sure she wants to give it to Greta. If it's that if it's that important. What what would you say is kind of running through her mind? Like what would like whether you should give it to Greta can get paid or whether you could use it for your own your own benefit or or you think selflessly. I think that Kava would more be thinking, well, it took a lot to get this motherfucker. I bet we could get some more money. That sounds more that sounds more likely. Yeah, I like that idea. Yeah. What about the rest of the group here? What how do you feel about this?

Because we I agree we have gratitude for a barrel, dude. We can just extort him for more money. Good luck finding another gravy boat of pestilence. I mean, like if we just threatened, like, hey, we're going to fucking either smash this or like open it or use it or whatever the fuck. Let's give us more money. Can we just streetwise like is there anyone else we could sell to who could pay us more than Grattik who might want this more? Yeah, go ahead. Well, street who has the highest streetwise? Grattik is part of what house, Jason? Silverclaw. And who is their biggest competitor?

I assume we would know this being from the airport. Yeah, well, Silverclaw and Darksbane are in. Well, all the houses are sort of against each other, but Silverclaw and Darksbane sort of run in the same company, so they compete with the same clients a lot. Send the raccoon with it. I mean, if you if we just gave it to the raccoon and was like, hey, go hang out on like the top of this church steeple or some shit. No one's going to get that fucking gravy boat. That's true. Also, to ninety nine point nine percent of Brightport civilians, they're not going to give a fuck about a raccoon hauling a piece of junk around.

That's not going to mean we give a little tiny backpack. Please. Oh, please. Yes, yes, yes. I guess sure. Like, why not? Yeah. A little Jan Sport book bag. Can it be you know how like they have backpacks, their animal faces? Can it be a little raccoon face backpack on top of a raccoon? They're just running by like, what the fuck is that? Can I sell those in Theria, Jason? Do that exist? They can be made. Can I get like a leather work? We can go to the local Therian Etsy. Yeah, the Brightport version of Etsy. Yeah. Dude, people will make anything to if they can sell it.

Absolutely. Especially in Brightport. Yeah. You tell them it's like I'm looking for a custom made raccoon backpack. First, they'll clarify raccoon skin or for an actual raccoon. For a raccoon shaped like raccoon. Yeah, me and a raccoon skin. Oh, it is a cold ass motherfucker. It's like somebody wearing a skull belt. Except it's an actual skull. So you're handing. OK, you're handing the you're handing the gravy boat over to Tiff. And just in case he doesn't accidentally do the magical spell. Turns out the only thing you have to do to activate it is to put raccoon hands on it.

Like a genie lamp. Is anybody else's throat really sore all of a sudden? Yeah, handing over to Tiff and just saying like, go somewhere where no one's going to find you. Keep this safe. Stay out of trouble. Tiff is going to scamper off up the side of a building and then just start running rooftops. There's a lot of really tightly packed housing in Brightport with a lot of flat rooftops. And you're going to watch Tiff's sort of scamper, sort of dragging this this this this little gravy boat looking thing behind him. So you're going to it's like and then you just hear boom, boom, boom, boom, as he drags and kind of bumps this this this gravy boat along.

Hope that doesn't bring down the market value. Every once in a while, you'll see someone's like, what the hell is that sound? And they'll look up and then they'll see it's a raccoon scampering away with, you know. So it's just so, huh? And then they'll go back to what they're doing. Because in Brightport, that is not the strangest thing that's going on. Heading back to the Rusty Nipple, the front door is ajar. It's it's it's open. And who would like to do me a favor, roll a perception check walking in here? Who's got that perception? My perception is plus nine.

I have ten. I have plus eleven. Go for it. OK. Yeah. Thank crit miss. Oh, yeah. Almost. Almost a crit. So 13. Yeah. Calith is going to notice that the that there's some some minor looting occurred while while the gang was away. And there's a note on on on the bar. And that is that is that is all she's really going to notice that that things look disheveled and that there's a note. OK, I'm going to go up and read the notes. Do we have anything? Well, I mean, it was a bar. There were there was a case of booze. They took all of our booze. They took the booze and that was the only thing I could think of, like the only object I remember was like Travis kept sweeping.

I was like, oh, no, our broom. That's all we know is a broom and booze. They wouldn't steal the mattresses like you know, they just burned them. We're doing the world a service. OK, there's a note and it says, waited three days. No one came back. Took booze. Jerry. He's the guy, the guy we tried to get Tom to bang. Oh, right. Oh, that motherfucker. You could have at least closed the door. I don't think he was thinking about that. You did ask him to lock up when he was done. We did. I've been saying that, but my my son. I told that fucker to lock up before he left.

I don't think he had a key in his defense. Could have shut the door. Rude. So we can go find Jerry and set him on fire. Well, no, I don't. I love him. There is a second note. This one from Greg. People just walk in fucking notes like. I mean, there's no other way to get in touch with you. Like you just left town and there's no way to get in touch with you. So all it says is for your group to meet him in the pawn shop when you've come back to town with the item. That's it. Do you put a smiley face at least? He did. Got his eyes with hearts, though. OK, that's better.

All right. How is Radic's penmanship? Not bad, actually. Fairly elegant. So I mean, for for little gnomish hands. Following social cues and etiquette. Write him a note. I'm just kidding. We can't send it with Tiv. He's gone. That would be your little messenger raccoon. That's so you're heading over to the fawn, right? Yeah. Yeah. Approaching the front door. Who would like to do me a favor and roll a perception check? I think we decided Kayla, this is the best, even though last time. I swear I'll be better this time. OK, do your best. Hey, better. Better. Kayleth is going to hear screaming on the other side of this door.

Doesn't sound like Gradic's voice. It sounds like it sounds like a man's voice. Very panicked, very, very, very scared, just trying to get away from something. You're going to hear a lot of thumping and stomping, too. I think we're going to have to meet Valus. I have that feel. Who's Valus? OK, should we run a check to see if we know who Valus is? You can run a streetwise. Would we have like a... there you go. Kayleth, that's you. We're not Kayleth, that's Nim. I was going to say, plus nine? Plus nine streetwise is the best one we got? We got a four. OK, here we go.

That's so cool. I just like being able to drag my guy. Sorry, I hit my mic. So one of the reasons that Gradic hasn't been murdered yet is the fact that there is a very large tiefling that that sort of works side by side with him in the faun. Valus, commonly known as the Butcher of Brightport, will flat out murder anyone who touches Gradic. His mother is co-owner of the shop, and that is the only reason that that he's there to protect Gradic. Gradic will constantly use this as an excuse to try and shake people down, offer to pay people, you know, as little as half of what he actually originally offered them, pretty much with impunity, because his theory is, what are you going to do?

So it is not uncommon to witness acts of brutal violence within the Filigreed Faun. OK, so I will obviously relate like, hey, guys, there's a fucking fight going on. Should we get involved or watch? Can we watch and judge them? I like watching fights. OK. Yeah. So can we all like roll a perception check to watch the fight? You sure can. Yeah. Open the door, watch the fight. Just leaning against the pipes, like judging their... Yeah. Do I have to roll another perception? You can if you if you like. I have no idea what's going on. Like, wait, yeah. There's a fight, but ooh, shiny penny.

With the hook and... Kick him. Kick him. So opening the door to the Faun, there is you're going to see a a female gnome standing off to the side. And you're going to you're going to see a man on the ground clawing his way to the door. This is just a mad dash to get away. He is he is crawling towards the door as fast as he can. He's still pretty much in the middle of the shop. And this huge tiefling is going to step over him and then start to bend down and repeatedly stab him in the kidneys over and over again. The old kidney stab. The new kidney stab. This man is going to repeatedly, just as his last act, try and lurch forward towards the door and just fall limp after a time.

The tiefling is then going to look up at the party and he's just assessing, just waiting to see if you're going to get involved. And then after a second, he is going to grab this individual by the by the belt loop and start to drag him out the back door of the Faun. The guys pants start falling down. Not wearing a belt. You guys think that fella is OK? Yeah. No. Can I run a streetwise to see if I know the feller? Sure. Might know what he's done. Let's see. Oh, yeah, I know what the fuck he did. Yeah. Crip! Damn, I know exactly what that is. That individual's name.

I know he was a previous customer. She pulls out a manila folder. Oh, he was one of those Johns who just wanted to talk like. That individual's name was Robert. He he was known somewhat around town. He worked with an individual named Sonia, who is a female gnome, which I mean, if you are any good at putting two and two together, you'd realize that that's that's her standing there in the shop. He was known from time to time to get a little greedy in negotiating. And that could be what happened just now. I scurred. So that 20 also get me like a little bit on Sonia as well, since they were buddies.

A little bit. Yeah. Sonia, you want to give a little backstory? Yeah, sure. Oh, hey, someone else in the car. Hi. Same as a surprise. I appear out of nowhere. Now, she's really good with making like mechanical things. Like she's really good at like she doesn't make like Warforged type things, but she could like break a chair and make a robot out of that. Like she's really good at like making devices or like traps or she's just really good with like tinkering with things. She's a gnome tinkerer. And how does she feel about Robert? Oh, OK. She sees him be dragged off and she's like, she sighs.

She goes, oh, Bobby, why did you go into a thing like that? Couldn't you have given me the money before you got yourself killed? And then she'll look over at you guys and be like, oh, hey, you're that dragonborn, right? The one that runs what's that brothel called the rusty nipple. It looks like my time has just freed up. You looking for any help? Is this the female gratic? It's great. I like that that voice is something inherent with. It's just the voice. Also, that voice is like fucking perfect. We got Cyndi Lauper on the show. Yeah, when she said, oh, Bobby, it sounded like every 60s sitcom where like the husband got in trouble.

That's why I chose that name. It's so perfect to say in that accent. Why did you have to get yourself stabbed in the kidneys and not give me the money? God damn it. So I guess Kava would look Sonya up and down because at the Rusty Nipple, we really only need one type of help. And say, you got any special skills? Well, I've seen your ride. I've seen how it basically falls apart going out of town. Yeah, I could fix that up for you in your place. I've seen that too. God, you are. It's basically falling apart. I can put some nice things in there. I can make it look good for cheap.

Mm hmm. She'll look back at the trail of blood leading out of leading out of the filigree quench, like, yeah, as long as you're around, you're big. I and the rest of you. Yeah. As long as you guys are around. Kava will extend her hand. Welcome aboard. She's three eight. So you have to like lean down to I don't think she would, though. I think she would expect you to jump up to get a tippy toes. Come on. She'll she'll get on her tippy toes and be like, I'm glad we're in business. I could I could see this would be a mutually beneficial arrangement. Can we just make a cannon that like her little tiny hand could only grasp like two fingers?

Yeah. Yes. The bodies now. Is there any relation to Gretic? Like what was so good? What are all knowns related? That's no, no. She just said mutually beneficial. Like, how are they not related? They're gnomes. That's sort of how they talk. That's also racist. It's a trait. Gnomes from Brightport. Gnomes from Brightport. Yeah. She's had business dealings with Gretic before. That's I mean, you know, we've seen how that's gone. Well, her partner was an idiot. Like, is there like screaming and like crying coming from the back room? Oh, no, he stopped screaming a while ago.

But you do hear. OK, Valis knows he can't leave the shop because there's several other people there. So you're there's a back room and you're going to witness Valis walk away with this limp body in his hand. And then you're going to hear him disappear into this back room and then a loud thump as he tosses the body against the back door to be taken out later. And then he's going to sort of, you know, stomp back into the room and stand behind Gretic. Gretic the entire time is just sort of leaning against the counter, watching you all. Hey, Gretic, you hear that?

I'm with them now. Leave me alone. Again, like he just whatever. You got the thing? And he's motioning towards Kava, just like waving her over to the camera. It's like, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on. Kava will sort of step up, not necessarily pushing Sonya behind her, but obviously Sonya is in a little trouble. And now she's part of part of their- Push with the tail. No, no. Get back here so that you're safe. And she'll walk up to Gretic and sort of nod. Yeah, we got it. Well, put it up on the counter. Come on. I want to see. I want to see. I want to see.

And at this point, she's going to motion towards them, almost as if she's like, well, well, NEM has it just to get NEM into the conversation. NEM will step forward and kind of like matter of factly, like she kind of looks down on Gretic, she kind of looks down on everybody, which is kind of weird in her position. All the positions. Sex puns. Well, the thing is, we've been asking around and we know that some other boys are very much willing to pay more than you are for this fine item. Bluff? Um, bluff, yeah. Come on, come on, come on. Twenty four? I think you're in the wrong town for not getting screwed over, honey.

Oh, yeah. That was in character. And then she's going to lean forward. She's crossing her arms like her. Her large breasticles are very high and she's like, breasticles. And you're definitely asking the wrong lady. That was so good. Valis is going to step forward just just just a hair and and Gretic's going to lean his it just just sort of lean his left hand out, just like, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. You love me another lifetime, honey. It's like I feel a connection with you. It's weird. In another life, maybe we could have been best friends. All right. What do you want? 20 percent markup.

OK. I'm assuming that Kayla did say that and I'm just going to go out like not over. Like, yeah, that's good. Yeah, because it's like 20 percent markup or nothing. Roll a diplomacy check for me. Oh, fuck. But we asked the right lady for that. I have plus four. Does anybody have better diplomacy? Well, you're the one who said it. You are the one who said it. OK, best of luck to you. Sixteen. Sixteen. Not bad for plus four. Not at all. But you tell me his free credit at the Rusty Nipple. Sweeten the pot a little bit. None might be slightly offended by that. Like, no, that's just that's just giving him my money.

Yeah. To give to us. OK, that's that's going to severely cut into my profit margin. Look, I'll tell you what, I'll give you a bump in pay and I'll offer you another job if you promise to hand it over by tomorrow. OK, the guy looking for it is, let's say impatient. You wouldn't mind if we shop around a little bit for better prices. I mean, this is business after all. No offense. We did lose a man. I think we deserve a dagger. He was a good friend. Travis takes off his cowboy hat. He was a kind man. He didn't want to hurt nobody. You done got him killed. Is that a bluff?

Is it a bluff? I would say that's a bluff. You're leaning into it pretty hard. Go ahead. He was a good friend. Six! I'm just going to keep going. He was like a brother to me. I love my brothers. I'm sure you do. I don't know why I am the only reputable businessman in this entire city. We had a deal and I don't know about you, but I stick to my deals. We all but signed a contract. Well, we didn't. Next time, make us sign a contract. Guard dog. And Valis is going to step forward. Guard dog. Kava's going to step forward. That's almost as bad as Bear Trap. And I thought his name was Valis.

And she's just going to sort of try to diffuse the situation a little bit, even though she does love a fight and just say bump and pay and the little lady's debt is forgiven. But what her and he's going to point that down to Sonia. Yeah, I don't care. Just yeah, Bobby already paid. Yeah, he took all the money. Busted. That's adorable. I'm sorry. That fucking girls just want it. Yeah, fine. Just can you get the thing to me by tomorrow? Yeah, she'll look back and try to just get a like a head nod from everybody, like everybody cool with that deal. Yep. Yep. And Kava will nod.

You know, as long as you're here, how would you like to make a little more money? Again, I have something else that needs doing and I can't leave the city. Maybe you could make a little run for me. Pick something up. Oh, no, mister. I'm pretty broken up over the loss of my friend. You're really going to have to make it worth my while. He's just sort of side eyeing Travis because he doesn't fucking believe a word of what he's saying. I would be so confusing because Travis just seems so sincere all the time. Yeah, he's blatantly lying. It's either he thinks he's lying or he doesn't care.

But one way or the other, it's not. It's not. Yeah, I'm sure we can come to some sort of arrangement. Look, this isn't going into some ancient home. This isn't walking into the silver glade. This is easy, easy money. You just go into Esterholt. You're picking something up for me. You're coming right back with it. Should take you a week tops on foot. Can I do it streetwise on Esterholt? Uh, you sure can. Whee! 22. Um, Esterholt is a fairly ritzy town. Financially, it's pretty well off. It has a really stable infrastructure. As cities go, it's one of the nicer ones in Theria, actually.

Except for one element. There is a very powerful blood mage there that the local authorities just refuse to do anything about because, well, they're terrified of them and they want nothing to do with them. Anyone who knows anything about Esterholt knows at least a little something about Darmok. They know. They've heard stories, specifically horror stories, mostly about the infamous hedge maze that that exists in the back of his fucking huge mansion. And it is said that on a really clear, quiet night, you can hear the screams of females running in the hedge maze.

And then after a while, they just go silent. OK, charming. Fucking adorable, really. Nunn's going to raise one eyebrow and be like, "deliver to who?" Because she kind of knows. Well, um, and he's going to start to he's going to start to backpedal just a little bit, like he's going to rein in the pitch. There is an agoraphobic gentleman who happens to be a mage. His reputation is really blown out of proportion in the city. It's unfair. Nunn's going to interrupt him. She's like, "you're going to send us to fucking Darmok?" "Hopefully you'll just interact with this butler.

It should be just a quick, quick trip. There's a parcel he has for me and I need it, but I'm far too busy to leave the city. You can see I business is is is far too important for me to leave. Otherwise, I would go make the trip myself, I assure you." And he's going to he's going to look over the party and see that no one's biting. "I can pay you for it." "More." And he's going to look at it. "Can't ask for more. I haven't offered you anything." Well, we have a funeral plan and we just got robbed. I mean, we've gone we've found some hard times. We need some money.

How much are you looking for? More. He's exasperated. How much did the last three thousand for each of us? To make a trip to a city. Again, this it's essentially a vacation for you people. I've heard of girls vacationing with Darmok. I think you're going to have to pay us more. We are three beautiful ladies and one beautiful man and one beautiful man. Damn right. He's going to have to keep his hands off all this. Kama's like wagging her tail. She doesn't get called beautiful very often. Um, when Kama chimes in, damn right, Grattic is going to reflexively cringe, just fine.

But I swear, if you come back and try and milk me for more money, we are going to have a problem. And he is going to reach over and just sort of like pat his hand against Valus's forearm. Valus is going to look down with utter disdain at Grattic and just sort of let loose this low grumble. How out of character for Valus. He's so kind. With age, he's actually toned down a bit. I think we have a deal. We will meet you tomorrow with the thing. Grattic's going to hold out his little hand to shake. Kama will shake it. Crash it. His hand, his hand is dwarfed by Kama's.

Jimmy, for realsies, can you roll like a strength check? Roll, roll, roll and athletics to see how hard I shake his hand. Yes. Oh, Jimmy broke some fingers, please. She got a 30. Holy fuck. So Kava's hand wraps around Grattic's entire hand and around his wrist like that, like just a portion of Grattic's arm disappears into Kava's clawed hand. And she's going to start to squeeze and Grattic's going to react right away. Just, ah, ah, ah. Valus is going to snap to and grab Kava's wrist. Now, Valus's hand wraps around Kava's wrist and sort of dwarfs her hand.

And he's just sort of leaning. Let him go. Can Nem step up and like kind of like pat him on the shoulder and be like, it's OK, it's OK. Lady just doesn't know her own strength and I will roll a bluff. Guys, everything's fine. You critmas! She absolutely knows her. I may have been whispering or telling her to hurt him. That's a good sign. She don't mean it. Bluff is my highest thing, and this is like the fourth critmas that I've gotten in Bluff throughout this series. Like, I'm really good at lying, but everyone expects me to. The problem is you keep lying to people who know you.

Kava fell for it. Yeah, I did. So though Valus has grabbed her wrist, you didn't say he squeezed. No. So she's not really going to react. She's just going to look down at Graddock and say, nice doing business with you and sort of let go of his hand. Can you do that thing where you kind of throw it a little? Chuck it back down towards him and just hits his body and breaks. Hits him in the balls. So Graddock is going to fall backwards and tumble off the little stool he stands on behind his behind his counter. Oh, that's actually kind of sad. I feel bad. You OK, little buddy?

And Valus is going to reach down with one hand and pick him up by by the material on his back, just like. But he wears this he wears this dapper little suit, and he's going to reach down and just sort of grab it, pick him up and place him back on the stool and just sort of like like like a toy poodle that mommy likes to have on the counter. And he's just going to sort of studying while Graddock is holding his hand in utter agony. Valus does not break eye contact with Kava the entire time. He just sort of reaches down absentmindedly, feels for Graddock, pulls him up and kind of like plops him back on onto the stool.

She's not looking at him, she's looking at Braddock. OK, well, as Nems leaving, she's going to blow Valus a kiss. And then she'll head out. You guys head at it. And openly laugh. And as Kava is shutting the door with with Travis behind, she's going to look straight at Valus and say, sit boy. Oh. Valus is you can you can see him tense up like he wants to walk around the counter and just start stabbing Kava repeatedly. Don't we all? He's going to tense up, but he's not he's not going to move. She'll just give a crooked smile and shut the door. OK, so the door is going to open again and Travis is going to scurry back inside.

Wait, wait, I forgot. Are you just going to start pulling out like the golden jeweled swords and start laying them on the table? All right, man, let's make this quick. How much for this? Come on, how much? Travis has like the worst diplomacy. The worst. I know, I was just going to ask, do me a favor. Sure. Do me a favor and roll a diplomacy check, Travis. Seventeen. So Braddock is going to offer you about 60 percent of the value of these items. But because he's sort of the only game in town that would have the finances to buy the entire stack from you, your options are kind of limited unless you just want to sit on them for a while.

I'll keep two and I'll sell the rest. All right. So I will say Travis is going to walk away with about five grand. Yes. So that is that is a pretty good haul. OK, so outside of the faun. So Sonia walks out and she like brushes off her pants and then she like, it was crazy in there, wasn't it? Yeah, the name is Sonia Bynotch if you're ahead of me. And I've heard of you guys. I've heard of Kava for sure. And then she'll hold out her hand to whoever takes it. Kaleth will shake her hand. She does it really energetically, like like she's really happy. And Nem's a little bit sore that you said that you knew about Kava more than her.

So she's just going to kind of huff and cross her arms like whatever. Should I roll a perception? Too cool for you. Go right ahead. Do I notice? Yeah, Sonia will notice that. Oh, and of course, Nem. Come on. Everyone talks about you down at the docks. That Nem will then like smile and be like, hell yeah, they do. And she'll shake your hand. Like you fed her ego enough that she's like, well, now I will acknowledge you. I like to imagine she hasn't let go of Kaleth's hand, so she's shaking with both her hands. And like they're crossed because she didn't think it through all the way.

I can see that this will be a very good arrangement for all involved. Now let's take a look at that. Oh, that ride you guys have. I could get it real fixed up, real fixed up nice for you. Let's see for it. We should name it like a ship. I think we did. It was something like Wagon. I don't remember. Swaggin Wagon or something. The Shaggin Wagon. Shaggin Wagon. I can just imagine someone coming into the bra, something I want to do you in the giant nipple. Is it a mobile service? It's like Meals on Wheels, but in Brightport. Ew. So not serving meals. Oh, my gam gam's expecting the Shaggin Wagon on Sunday morning.

I can't. Um, Sonia, do me a favor. Roll an arcana check. OK. Twenty seven. How do you have a plus twenty one? Jesus. Well, because she's a gnome and she's not she's not physically gifted. Yeah. Sonia is going to make several improvements to your ride. One. The wheels sort of had a square shape to them. So rounding them is going to drastically improve the ride. The the the nipple itself. Does she vomit? It's does she vomit Jason? It is a it is a pristine shine. Now, that's not going to do anything for the heat. But that maybe maybe in the future, maybe some some maybe she has to work on some sort of like logistical.

It's like maybe some sort of air holes for ventilation. I'm not sure. Maybe make it have a different material altogether. That'd be that'd be pretty wise. And maybe like since it's arcana, she could do some like magical things to make it feel like it. It's more comfortable or something like it's illusionary. Like you're obviously sweating, but you feel better. So this thing is going to ride a lot better. It didn't handle bumps very well at all, because there was there was nothing to absorb the shock. So Sonya did take care of that. You're going to get where you're going a little faster and your spine isn't going to feel like it's been put in a rock tumbler for for an hour and a half when when you get there.

So, yeah, true to her word, she she made this a hell of a lot better. It's not prettier, but it'll ride better. The nipple does shine now, though, so like a diamond. Just absorbing all the sunlight and channeling it into the body. Way worse. The nipple itself looks better. But you walk in front of it, all your hair just gets singed off. You didn't want eyebrows, did you? I would like one of you to roll a flat T20 for me. Not it. Not it. I want to do it. OK, now before you roll, I want to let you know why you're rolling. OK. Periodically trekking through the swamp, I'm going to ask that someone roll roll a T20.

Now, this is to show that time has passed and there are horrors all over this place. Now, at any given time, you guys could potentially run into something very lethal. Now, the T20, if it basically we're treating this as a saving throw. If you roll, it's over 10, it's 10 or over. You won't run into anything at all. You're fine. The lower the die is after, let's say you fail this roll, the nastier the thing that jumps out at you is. That being said, do you still want to be the one to roll the T20? Yes. OK, so let's see that. Let's see that T20. All right. Boom.

Wow. Awesome. Thank you. That is very nice. All right. I'm not making it anymore. The confidence in your voice that there's some gravitas to you knew you were getting a crit. Yeah, sometimes you just know like you know when you're going to get it four times in a row. Trust the universe. OK, you you you walk clean through here for hours unimpeded. It's it's it's it's actually almost a pleasant stroll. I mean, you're getting muddy and filthy and the place stinks. But you know, I mean, nothing's trying to kill you at the moment. So fucking awesome. You are one third of the way to the last known whereabouts of this witch.

At least the last time that Dagon visited this place. You still have two thirds of the way to go and it will be getting on nightfall here within the next couple of hours. And not and will. What was that? No camping. Yeah. Yeah. I will not be doing that any time. You have no reason for that. I would think Breland would ask for it. Why? Why are you guys so against camping? It's a swamp, not a forest. Yeah, no, well, he doesn't know anything. He just be like, what the hell? We didn't. He's going to be really upset, actually. We didn't sleep when we had the drink. You know, we barely slept on the boat.

I can't keep walking like this. I'm one third your size. I'll carry you. You can sleep when you're dead, Breland, and that is more likely if we camp in the swamp. He's going to cross his arms and huff and puff for rump. Craig going to bat an eye. He's going to kind of bat an eye at this exchange like, OK, that's weird. Is it is, you know, just just but not not really bring it up because he's in a hurry himself. And the quicker you guys get this done, the quicker. So he's not objecting to it, but it is a little it's like, OK, that's weird that you're you're adventurous and you just don't camp.

You just never sleep. Like it's just kind of like, you know, floating around in his head. We would have slept on the ship. I mean, right. I know. But you're marching all day through this, you know, this cover, desolate, fucking awful place. So all right. Let's see here. Breland. Yes. Do me a favor. Roller perception check. Well, I don't even know what mine is. Oh, mine's a five. A gray. No. There you go. Yeah. Twenty two. So you guys are still trekking through here and it's it's it's it's it's a little silent every once in a while as conversation falls flat. You don't want to you don't want to talk out loud.

You don't want to you don't want to bring any undue attention to yourselves. And. As Breland. Is walking past one of those. Remember I told you earlier, there's kind of a viscous looking, almost gelatinous little like little ponds. Yeah, I know this is. As Breland is walking past this, this thick, viney tentacle is going to shoot up out of this pond and wrap itself around. It's going to wrap itself around Breland's legs. Oh, no. And I am going to go ahead and I'm going to start to roll D20s here in between you guys taking actions. The higher the D20 roll, the further and faster it's going to drag Breland into this pond, and its its goal is to drag him under and drown him.

So let's start. Five. OK, so it's going to wrap itself around his legs and it's going to be enough to pull him enough so that he's prone. He's going to fall. But it's not covering his mouth. It's not that he can scream out. He can you know, I mean, it's going to make some noise. And I would imagine Breland's going to start to just sort of like claw at the ground, do whatever he can to not get dragged backwards. Yeah. Can I run and jump and grab him? Do me a favor. Roll an athletics check or an acrobatics check. Either one. I'll go for athletics. OK. 30. Laila is going to.

I would imagine you're going to grab you're going to grab on Breland's arms. Yes. OK, so now there's this tug of war going on. Can I run up and like get one of my hand axes and try to slice through this vine? Yeah, I was going to say I was going to yell and like someone needs to cut it. Yeah. Yeah. OK, so let the vine let's see what the see what this is. Let's see what it does this time to this thing. It's feebly tugging at. So to Laila's Laila's easily going to going to hold her ground. But it is going to start to wear at Breland a little bit like it's just it is pulling him in two separate directions.

But the vines not pulling very, very hard. So do me a favor, Corey, make an attack. Oh, yes. Gorgeous. Yes, that is. Oh, these. So do me a favor. Roll damage. OK. Is that this little blood drop here? Yes. OK, because I have two blood drops, so I don't know which one. Just the first one. Twenty seven damage. OK, that is going to hack into this thing. And it is it is almost going to it's almost going to cut it off completely. But it's not quite enough. It looks to be like several vines kind of intertwined together, like almost like a thick braided cord. But the cord itself is it seems to be sentient.

So it's not going to quite be enough to to cut it all the way through. But it's really, really close. So let's see what it does. Eleven. So it's going to start tugging a bit harder at Breland. Laila, do me a favor. Roll another athletics check. No. Yeah. That time, Laila is not going to hold her ground. She's going to start to slide backward towards this towards this little viscous pond, this little stagnant bit of water she's going to like. The ground beneath her is so wet that she can't plant her feet and she is going to start to slide back. And is there anything near me that I can grab on to?

You'd have to let go of Raylan to do that. I can't hold on to him with one arm and like grab onto a tree. That's going to loosen your grip like that's that's. Can we grab on to Laila to help her out? You sure can. Can we get legless to help? But guys, the more of you that that tag on to this is going to put more pull on him. Yeah, I'm totally going to jump in. Yeah, I think it's just instinctively we'd be like, oh, crap. So I'll try to grab him around his waist, see if that helps. So Breland's feet, Breland's little toesies are going to start to dip into this.

This was it's so cold. Yeah, he is going to it's it's this is a cold, murky water. But yeah, he is going to start to like it's it's got him back to the point where it's it's it's back to the source of water. He's going to start to be like another round of that, like another good round. He'll he'll he'll be taken under. Can I slice through it again? Yeah, go ahead. OK, another tag. Oh, that is going to miss. Dang it. Can I do grasping shards like it's supposed to slow the enemy? So, yeah, go ahead and you can roll an attack. OK. Do you know? I'm not sure if I get it.

Twenty five. Yeah, that'll hit. OK. Really? Oh, yeah, just as five damage and it's slowed. So. OK, so yeah, it won't be it won't be moving out of that very easily, but yeah, it'll continue to sort of pull at that. I'm not strong, but I can slow it down. Right. You could slow his descent under the water. Oh, good. Well, I looked at the world. You're just going to take a swing. So can we all act between like your D20 rolls or is it just this is more reactionary type of stuff. So I'm going to ask I'm going to ask actor onus now what what you'd like to do. Yeah, I'm probably going to use my my glaive since this got reached to like hack at the vine like further than Braille in to make sure I don't hit him.

Thank you. Well, yeah, that wasn't even a possibility. I was I was I wasn't I'm not an asshole. I wouldn't automatically assume that you would miss it because I'm picturing picturing him like halfway in the water already. So like, yeah, he's starting to get. Yeah, you can sort of like swat down into. All right. Yeah, cool. So you're going to take a negative two because it is under the surface of the water and it's kind of tough to see. All right. Yeah. This twenty six, a hit. OK, totally. And oh, that would be twenty four though. This twenty four hit. No, twenty four doesn't.

I forgot about the negative two. Can I use one of my nifty new moves? What would you like to do? Well, it's one of my encounter powers that I haven't used yet. I would count this as an encounter. Where? OK, what would you consider me adjacent to Braille? Yeah, sure. Because I have a power called Uproot. That basically basically says if any adjacent allies hit by an attack, both me and the ally teleport five squares away. OK, I believe that's a trigger to action. Yeah, well, no. Is it not? Well, that would have been when he first got like wrapped up. OK, well, I did that out because it's OK.

Craig's going to take a swing at this thing. And wow, thirty six. OK, way to go, Craig. Nice. Thirty one. OK, that'll be enough to sever this thing. And that is going to hack. That's going to hack Braille and free. Cool. So it might like half in water and half not in water. Yeah, I would. Yeah, but there's no resistance now. Like Layla is still tugging. So this will be a thing where Layla would probably even fall backward. And, you know, like Braille can just, you know, kick his feet. And yeah, he's free of this vine now. He will scamper to the shore. I would imagine you're getting away from this pond.

Yeah, yeah, no, no. OK, just hang out. Feel like a dip. Maybe there's treasure. Yeah, well, let's see what else comes out. Craig is going to sort of like he's going to he's going to wander behind Braille and just kind of pat him on the back, but not like like kind of like almost like pushing him forward, not like good job, like get OK, scoot, scoot, like kind of scoot him forward. OK, well, when he does, I'm like, hey, it wasn't my fault. Very, very almost a patronizing tone in his voice. Just yeah, I know, I know, I know, just very, very patronizing. What a dick.

He finds you adorable is the thing. He's going to I'm going to silently cry to myself. This is scary. All right. Who would like to make another D20 rule? You are halfway, not by the way. You got to feel it. If you feel it, say it. Do it. Yeah, totally. Who feels it? You know what? I feel it again. Do you feel it again? Yeah, yeah, I do. Oh, my goodness. You guys ready? No, I'm ready. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. What is the second worst thing you could throw at us? Where's the zero? Yes, you felt it. You just felt half of it. Yeah, you had it when I closed. I don't think that's nice.

We get one more. Well, I mean, half of the two zero one mulligan. Yeah. If everyone could place their characters. OK, all right. Let's do this. Yeah, let's like place your characters somewhere in that area right there, please. Wait, so they're better than us? Yeah. Why? Why are we by ourselves? Oh, Jamie. Yeah, we got this. Hopefully. Yeah, damn it. Still, I will. I will remind you, you rolled a two. I'm sure you'll be fine. I forgot. Thanks, Jason. You said I'm sure you'll be fine? I'm sure you'll be fine. Let's see in the initiative. First up is air love. I'm going to do the one I always do.

I think I'm going to blind them. I think that would be good for a basilisk. Oh, abilities. I haven't done this before. OK, powers. I'm going to do a daily, which probably isn't good, but whatever it is. So yeah, area burst one within 10 squares. So I will make a mark 30. 30 will hit. OK, and next one. 24 versus versus reflex that'll hit. Yeah. All right. Do you get them both? 21 and they're blind damage and they're both blind. Anything else? Oh, no. That'll be it for now. Sweet. OK, Cori, your turn. OK, I am actually going to scoot back a little bit just because of my rangedness, and I am going to do guardian Harrier against basilisk number one, which will activate my pale wolf's floor.

But I'll do guardian Harrier first. 24 against reflex AC. Yeah, it's going to miss. Darn. Well, it still brings up my pale wolf's floor. I'm not sure what I need to do to put the token on the board. I'll take care of it. OK. Where would you like it? Right up in this little corner, like right in between me and him. OK, anything else? That's it. Actaronis, your turn. I will delay, actually. And Brelin, your turn. OK. I think we could go three to the three guys against the two on the right. Oh, we have Craig here. I will whip out the wand and do vicious mockery on number one.

Oh, crap. Cool. That is a 16. That is going to miss. Versus Will. Yeah, it's a miss. OK. Fuck me. I don't have anything. I'm going to take a pass. Oh, yeah, I need an insult. That's right. Obviously, it fell flat. So I'm going to run over there, shoot the wand out and be like, Hey, Jesus, you stink. And then it's not going to work. I'm going to bust out a glimpse into the future for my daily. I'm going to use that. Sweet. Minor Actors, I'm going to roll three d20s. All ready. And here we go. Oh, OK. Well, 17. Yeah, I got a 17 and a 16. So I've never used this power before, but I've heard it on the show.

I remember when Duncan used it. Believe you get to take the highest roll and then replace that if someone misses an attack or something. You get to say, here, I have a 17 bank. OK, within 10 squares of me. OK, yeah, cool. That's the end of my turn. All right, Dagon. OK, I'm going to start off a little easy here. We do a force blast against number one 20 is going to miss. Damn it. Anything else? No. That will bring up Layla. OK, so I want to take my battle wrath stance, which will give me a plus two power power bonus to damage rolls. The basic attack actually, you know, it'll give me a plus three power bonus.

OK, so that'll hit number two. Twenty one. Twenty one damage. Beautiful. All right, guys, Basilisk, number one. He's blind and he can't move. Yeah, that limits his actions. I'm going to be honest. Yeah, yeah. He really can't do much, so he's going to he's he's just going to pass his turn. He's going to flail at the air kind of impotently. Just he can't do anything. Number two is blind, but can move, correct? Yes, I think so. I'm trying to remember. I know he's keep in mind, like number one can move. He'll just take damage for it. Like it's not that he physically can't move.

Oh, OK. Yeah, that's what my wolf does is just if if an enemy here, I'll read it. Any enemy that moves out of a square adjacent to the whole takes damage, takes five damage. Not that I'm saying you can't still delay his turn. No, not at all. I'm I agree with you. You should attack cheating. No, not at all. I so having been insulted, having having heard an insult earlier, he's going to stumble forward towards the source of that noise. No, what? And he's going to get attacked by this wolf. So he's just going to take damage. He doesn't have to be attacked, right?

Yeah, it's just five damage. Five. OK, so cool beans. So I OK. And let's see here. Yeah, he's going to attack Braille. So let's let's go ahead and roll an attack here. Yeah, he's just going to bite, actually, at Braille. Just bite. Does it 33 hit your AC? Of course not. Yeah, OK, cool. Definitely does. Is that minus five from being blinded? Oh, yes. Oh, no, no, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Even with a minus five, that's still twenty eight. Yep, that's still good. OK, trying to help. I know. No, totally modifier, guys. This is bad. You know what? I don't like that. I'm going to activate my counter power.

Second chance. You must reroll the attack and and use a second roll, even if it's lower. Twenty four. Shit. But minus minus minus five. That's with the minus. That's with it. Yeah. God damn it. That would have been so cool. Jason, sorry, Jason. I think I get an attack of opportunity on it, though, with my reach to when he entered the first square and then moved again in to be next to Braille. And I think leaving the first of the two squares would trigger the opportunity attack. Woo. Oh, that's a crit. OK, so go ahead. Mayley, there's a way to max damage, right?

I think it's a controller shift. I can't remember. I think it should. Let's try this. OK, so and he was previously damaged, right? Yeah. OK, cool. So that's 16 damage. Yes. So let's see here. Bite. Oh, yeah. My damage. I almost forgot about damage, guys. Thirty five damage to Braille. Oh, fuck. Nice. That was a good bite. It was nice. It's like. That's a laugh. It's meaty. Meaty. Yeah, it's like a it's like a leg. Let's see. Basilisk two is going to shift forward and he is going to use petrifying games. He is blinded. Yeah, he is blinded. That's going to make this tougher.

So that's a negative five against any attack he he gives you guys. But this is going to let's see this going. This is a blast. I want to say it's close by three. Yeah. So so all of us. This would be actor onus. Laila. So Dagon actor onus, Laila. Let me roll down the line here. So that is OK. So the good news is that's going to be a heavy hit to. So this so let's see. Start off with actor onus. Twenty seven versus your fortitude. I hit that minus five. Yes, with the minus five. I'm done. I won't do it again. That's OK. Laila crit mess against Laila. And Dagon. Oh, seventeen versus your fortitude.

Eighteen fortitude. Yeah. What? Just actor onus. So this is going to do damage. Let's do the damage first. So twenty nine damage. So not crazy. So actor onus is slowed. All right. Save ends. If you miss your first saving throw, then you're immobilized. If you miss your third saving throw, then you are a statue. Oh, shit. There is no saving that. Well, there's a witch not too far. That's true. That will bring up Greg. OK, Craig's going to take a swing here at the at the first basilisk. He's going to use he's going to use thundersmite. So let's see if this hits first before we do anything fancy.

Yeah, that'll hit thirty one. OK, awesome. So Chris, going to wheel around with a sword and he is going to strike this basilisk for twenty seven damage. So firstly, that's pretty awesome. OK, that will bloody the basilisk. And it is going to do. So that's thunder damage and this thing is knocked prone. Nice. I'm going to use divine power right now. It's a burst that's going to hit one and two. It's going to push them one. So let's do that. Just backwards one. Oh, wow. All right. Very nice. So so all right. One he's blinded again. And it got to a basilisk one as well, so I guess it moves up.

Cool. Yeah. OK, so damage is five more damage from passing my wolf, by the way. Oh, OK. Nice. And damage is twenty four radiant. Well, OK. Technically, he's still adjacent to it. And it's a push. It's not. He didn't will. OK. Yeah, you're right. Yeah. So twenty four damage to both. Yes. I'll see. So cool. And in addition to that, I'm going to get region five until I'm bloody. I know when I'm bloodied until the end of the encounter. And me and all of my allies gain plus two AC bonus until the end of the encounter. Sweet. All right. So we gorgeous. Anything else? I'm going to heal Braylon with a healing word as a minor.

OK, thank you. So that's going to be. Go ahead. Oh, OK. All right. Unless you want me to go back. I can go back. No, no, no. I got this. OK. Oh, we're going to go. I get plus two to hit it. So I'm going to add that in there. OK, because bloodied foe, I'm tiefling blood hunt. All that jazz. I'm going to go after number one. I am going to do Thunder of Judgment. Yes. I'm getting anti-Semitic here. OK. Twenty six will hit. Yeah. OK. And this does OK. Wait, I'm sorry. Is that versus for it? Yes. That'll miss, actually. Holy moly. Let me make sure I don't have anything else. No, and that was an encounter.

Damn it. It's going to push it. You know, wait, wait, wait. Do you want the 17? I'll use it. I'll bust that out. OK, it's good. I think we need to. OK, which one are you hitting? I'm sorry. Number one. Yeah. OK, I give her the 17. All right. So you hit it. Yeah. OK. Oh, which one was that again? And their judgment. Let me open this up, because I think it does more when I'm higher level. Yeah. OK. Shoot. OK. Damn it. And it pushes it four squares. That'll kill the basilisk. Not that much. That much. You were you were right there. That'll kill it. And it flies off because I pushed.

And yeah, Team Rocket blasting off again. Yeah. Oh, and now the flames died down. But that basilisk is blinded because it went back into it. OK. Um, you guys are mean, do you know that? Corey, your turn. OK, so my pale wolf only lasts until the end of my next turn, just so you know, so you can take him off the field. Oh, my God, my rolls stink today. 21 is going to miss. Um, I really don't want to use my action point. But if I can't hit anything like right on a basilisk. If we camp, you get your action point. Oh, you get your... You camp. Is it every two battles or one battle?

Every two battles. Or a milestone, like a big battle. Or extended rest. So if you guys want to take a nap. OK. If we're planning on taking a nap, I may use my action point. It's up to the senior members, if I remember correctly. I don't think that's safe. All right. Then, nope, my turn is over. I'm done. It sucks. I like to think that this is happening in combat. I'll do this thing. It's like, I don't think it's safe. It's like, all right. Everybody paused on the battlefield just to be like, oh, the basilisk looks over. It's like, what do you think, boss? No, you don't think it's safe.

I'm going to have to agree with him on this, honestly. I had a buddy who was camping. We're going to go with distract and shout. If I haven't used it yet. Yeah, I haven't used it yet. Distract and shout on number two. OK. God. 19. Damn it. Versus Will? Because that versus Will, though. He's still going to miss. And did you add the plus two? Oh, no, no, I didn't add the plus two. No, so that's 21. That's still going to miss. I'm sorry I used the 17. That's OK. It was not for me. That's for you guys. I'm support. I'm here to help you all. I'm going to curse under my breath as my distract and shout doesn't work.

And I'm going to use an action point. Oh, what fancy action point stuff do you get? Oh, yeah, I got that crazy super powerful. It is game. Oh, I see. Whenever you spend an action point, you can choose to project a bright light out of five squares until the end of your next turn. While in this light, allies gain plus four bonus to all defenses and do not provoke opportunity of attack. Is it very? Yeah, it's out for me. It's out for me. So everybody and after the action point, I think I'll use dissonance strain. Yeah, that's a little dissonant strain on number two.

OK, well, that's a little better. Twenty seven will hit as well. And he's got some negative effects here. Let me mark this done. Feels bad about. He does. That's a tough man, you know, not brushing your teeth, Basilisk, that doesn't do you any good with those eyes. And then he's going to frown. He takes negative two penalty to attack rolls until the end of my next turn. In addition, any ally within five squares of me can make a saving throw. So, actor onus, go ahead and make a saving throw. Oh, no, that's true. I didn't do my first one, actually. So you didn't get a turn, did you?

Yeah, after I delayed. Oh, OK. So this is the one I rolled earlier. Let's pretend this is the one I should have rolled. Saved. OK, we say so. All right. No, say you're good. I just remembered I have something that gives allies with close to me like plus two to saving throws. So well, we're good for now. Yeah. Don't let me forget, guys. Yeah. Damage coming up. Oh, OK. Sixteen. OK. And then it's two. I just hurt his feelings a little bit. All right. Anything else? You're up. That's actually that's I'm done. Dig on. OK, let's try that force plus again. Who's there on pretty much attacking number two right now?

Yeah. OK, I'm going for 32. That'll hit. Yeah. Awesome. Oh, crap. Twenty seven. That'll kill the basilisk. Yes. They go. There's some mighty fine teamwork going on. I am impressed. Thank very much. That's the rolling it to you're doing very well. I am. I'm done. You're done. OK, let's see. Basil's number three is going to use. You know what? I think it's time for a gaze. So petrifying gaze against Dagon actor onus and Laila. Oh, three. I was doing just fine with them ignoring me. Right. So you should have. I noticed you were very quiet. Yeah, I didn't want to you know, I didn't want them to be aware of my presence.

Hopefully if I stood still, they wouldn't see me. Jurassic Park. I may have watched all three of them last weekend. Let's see. Going down thirty. Thirty versus your fortitude. OK. Laila. Wait, wait. We all have plus four plus four to all our defenses. Remember? Yeah. Oh, then no. That's still going to be still. I think Laila Laila saves. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I don't. So I don't. Sorry to interrupt. But after Layla's after Layla's hit with this attack, I want to use Dagon. No, no. After late. Well, after it tries to hit Layla because it was that was too slow. I didn't think about it until afterwards.

But OK, I'm going to use. Where the fuck did it go? Oh, God. I lost it. Call for vigilance. I'm sorry. Call for vigilance. An enemy within five. Oh, shit. Wait a minute. Oh, he's five. OK, five squares of me. An enemy within five squares of you attacks one of your allies. The target is blind until the end of my next turn. Jesus Christ, you're blind. OK, yes. Basilisk is blind. But I did too slow. So Dagon's still going to get that. So he's going to get the target. OK, yeah, and it'll be negative five against his next swing. And that's against actor Ronis. Twenty eight versus fortitude.

Yeah, that works. OK. Plus four. Four two. Oh, yeah. Still. Oh, jeez. Yeah. 14 damage to Dagon and to actor Ronis. And you're both slow to say that. OK. All right. And that will bring up actor Ronis. I'm going to get my healing surgeon myself. So that's going to be plus three D six. My healing surge value being what is it? It's a quarter year. Twenty three. OK. Twenty three. OK. So twenty three plus four. Six roll. Healing strike. That's 30 against AC. Yep. That'll it. Cool. I think Dagon, you get to spend a healing surge. Famous Xavier line. Edit that out. Yeah, that was he's on damage, right?

So I get to add two or three D six. Two or three D six, two D six. So that was 15 plus ten. Twenty five. Twenty five damage. Very nice. Very, very nice. Anything else? Nope. All right. This poor basilisk is blind, guys. Lila, your turn. Get on. Oh, roll a saving throw. Oh, yeah. Plus two. Oh, that's a one. All right. So I'm you are now immobilized. Am I is it slow first? Slow it. You're slowed automatically. Oh, OK. OK. That's that's part of the gaze itself. So so actor on his legs are going to start to turn to stone. I thought we had three saves. No, it's the hit. Then you save.

Then you get one more. So boy, what? Only two saves. Yes. Sorry. What is that? That's those guys before that. Then you'll be OK. Lila, kill it. Everybody. No pressure. All right. So I want to use power strike. Thirty four is definitely going to hit. OK. Twenty three. Twenty three damage. Nice. And then. I'm going to action point and do it again. Thirty three. Oh, it's nice. And that's good. Twenty one. Twenty one damage. You are hacking away. Good job, Lila. Beautiful. OK, sorry, I tried to kill it. Tried. I know. I was right. You bloodied it. I was definitely bloodied. It was amazing.

Let's see. Craig's turn. Run up here and kill it. We got five attacks before its turn. Yeah. So let's see. Craig is going to move adjacent to it. He's just going to use his greatsword on this one. Thirty three versus AC will hit and seventeen. Low on damage. So seventeen to this basilisk. This basilisk is not looking so good, guys. Aralov, your turn. I don't hit hard, guys, so I'm sorry. OK, I'll just do one of my at wills. I'm going to do avenging light versus it and I get plus two. This is bloody and I blood hunt. Twenty two. Twenty two versus what? Oh, versus sport.

Damn it. No. Yeah, no. That's not going to hit. I don't need target anything else. Most of the time that's the thing to target. You're fighting a lot of squat creatures who blow center of gravity. I think I'm going to save my action point. OK. Sorry, guys. Corey, your turn. OK. Corey is going to move over here so she has a better shot. And guardian harrier. Twenty nine. That'll hit. Oh, finally. Thirty four. Thirty four. That'll be enough to kill the bassless guys. Combat. We are not statues. You are not statues. Oh man, Acronis, my heart sank. Acronis, your legs are going to return to normal.

The spell is broken. You guys are going to wake up the next morning in Durn Hollow. And I would imagine you're all kind of reconvening, getting together and getting ready to start your day. And you're going to notice that once again, Draconis has gone missing. He does not appear to be anywhere. Hmm. Has anybody seen who slept with anybody sleeping in his room last night? I think that is just going to kind of raise an eyebrow and look at him. What do you think? So he just got he just left. He just got up and left again. I thought him and Ynward were bunking together.

Oh, I thought he got his own room. Yeah, he got his own room. He said he said he he jumped in his own room. So, OK. Yeah, I think Ynward and Duncan were in the same room. Diana said, I'll find somewhere. I'll find a corner to sleep in or something. And then he ran off and locked the door. Like Diana would have slept with Ynward and Duncan. It's like if that was an option. OK, so all of us slept in the room together. She would have curled up in like a dresser drawer or something. Yeah. Oh, well, I mean, should we look through the town? Maybe he got up and went and got breakfast or looked for blood.

I don't know. Should we look around for him or? I got an idea. I want to go over the window and open it. I think he's gone, you guys. Can't exactly say I'm surprised at this. He took all the money. I guess we should talk to Laren then. She does seem like she knows what's going on around here. So walking out into the street of Durn Hollow, there's there's a full scale operation going. They are they are building and they're they're working very hard to get this town back under some sort of control and try to make it somewhat prosperous. It's encountered a couple of black eyes as of recently, as you well know.

And Laren is right in the center of this. Every once in a while, she'll sort of bark out to someone or she'll she'll be giving instructions or orders or directions. And yeah, she is very much in control of the situation here, which is something the town may need, honestly. So you guys are approaching her? Yes. Yes. Excuse me, Miss. Oh, gosh. Other girl, Malchus, please. We need some help. She's going to turn around from what she's doing and other girl Malchus doesn't really. Not the most favorable thing, but she's going to give this really shallow sigh. Yeah.

Did Diana sigh? Did Diana sigh or did Kelsey sigh? No, that was Diana sigh. OK, so as you can probably tell, we're like one giant dragon man and we can't seem to find him. Remember, he was the one that he was one that was really mean to you. You yelled at yesterday. Yeah. Yeah, I remember him. He he left town this morning. Did he say where he was going or? No, Shifty bastard just slinked off. Does sound pretty shifty. Well, I'm OK with that. How about you guys? I must admit, I am not too disappointed at who belongs. I mean, I hope he's OK, but which way did he go, ma'am?

He headed east, so let's go west. I would imagine he's heading towards Orash somewhere in that area, but I could be wrong. Oh, wait, maybe he's going to go try to be king. Yes, I'm sure that would work out so well for him. Well, if that's what he wants to do, that's what he wants to do. I, I honestly was scared of him anyway. So if he wants to go, I'm kind of OK with it. Clearly, he had no need for our company. And if he did, he did add a little more fire to my life than I would have liked. That was horrible. I'm taking it you you're packing up, you're leaving.

I don't know. What do you do? You guys want to hang out here a little bit more or. Let's make it quick so we beat him if he tries to come back. In case he was just leaving for a little while. OK, Duncan kind of looks over at Diana and goes, well, I mean, you kind of I guess you're kind of leading the operation. You have the stuff. Should we go now or do you want to hang out? We should probably leave within the next hour and she's going to then kind of look towards Laren and then. Can we talk to you about something in private? Yeah. Yeah, sure. Come here. And there are a few abandoned buildings in Durin Hollow.

Just a few. Just a few. A couple. A smattering of abandoned buildings. Yeah, there it's the Detroit now. The Detroit, Alabama. Detroit at some point was absolutely horrible in some way. OK, Diana, I guess you guys can talk. We'll go. I know that was Duncan. That was. She didn't say like you and I. She said we could. I know I was I was doing I was doing a little thing where you could be like, oh, no, no, no. Hey, I want you here. And then it'd be like, oh, so. Yeah, no one's going to no one's going to bother you in this little abandoned shack. There's it's it's quiet, at least.

Was it a whorehouse at some point? No. OK. The warehouse was the nicest place in Durin Hollow, actually. Really luxurious until the until someone burns down. So it's going to kind of like look around that she's not looking at learning when she's saying this and take a couple seconds and then just we're currently headed to human Nero in hopes that they might be able to assist us in destroying something dangerous. And she's going to look back directly at Larin, something that could take countless lives if it fell into the wrong hands. She's going to sort of take a little bit more of a defensive stance, kind of cross her arms.

OK, go on. It's the remnant of the Overwatch that no longer should exist in the world whatsoever, and we don't have the power to do that ourselves. But I'm telling you, just in case something happens to us along the way, when we do reach human, you know, I will contact you and let you know. If in the next month or so you don't hear from us, you might want to alert the rest of the White Ravens and have them search for our bodies. If something happens with this, it could be the worst thing that's ever happened in the entire history of this world. Alright.

And she's going to look over the party. Well, I'll wait to hear from you. You all seem like decent people, so obviously I wish you luck. If there's anything you need from us, let me know. Do you have any, like, operational stores in town? I know the last lady retired. Retired is a nice way of putting it, yeah. Well, hold on. I can give you something. I'm present. You're traveling on foot, am I right? Yes. That's our current plan. Well, we did recover a lot of horses recently. There are people who fell in the battle, people who just left their horses in fields to march with the army.

We could give you a few horses to help you out. That would actually help us a great deal. Um, do you have any that are... Duncan kind of puts his hand next to him and goes up and down, like, smaller in nature, possibly? Actually, we found a little one. Oh! We thought it was really weird at the time. It's for my friend here, and I pointed at Yenward. Not me, I... full-size horse. But, you know, him. Thank you. Laren's gonna lead you to this sort of... it's not a stable, but it's sort of a makeshift... There was a barn near town. There was a guy who actually raised horses not far from here, but he sadly lost his life recently, and his horses were stolen.

So they're using that property, and there's a little bit of a spillover, but one of the horses is the exact horse that Duncan... There's not a crap-ton of miniature horses in Theria. There are some. So I don't need to do a perception check or anything. I recognize it. Instantly recognizable, yeah. Okay. Okay. Um, can I try to run and jump on the horse again? Uh, I got a 15. Do I do... So Duncan's gonna get a good running start and sort of leap up and kind of land on the ass of the horse and then just start doing this little scooch-immy where he... Like, he quickly is like, "Eh, eh, eh." Just sort of like try to make it look as smooth as possible.

Doesn't exactly pull off like he wants it to, but like he gets where he's going. It's just not as graceful as he would have liked it. I'm getting there. It's better than last time. Yes. Okay. I'll take it. Much better than last time. Okay. Um, you are gonna find Oliver in the pack, which would support you inward because it would have supported Draconis. And there'd be a horse for Diana too, so if you guys... And then Diana just gets a horse. You get a horse. Does Oliver look okay? Does Oliver look hurt or...? No, no. Oliver looks fine. I only got punched once. A little bit.

He did get punched once, yeah. That's a while ago. But he was well enough to kick back. Never forget. Okay. So you guys are saddling up? Yeah. Yeah. I want to jump on. Diana's gonna turn to Larian before getting on her horse. Thank you for what you've done to help us. And what I said to tell the Yara about the kids, if there's three of them, and if they do come to Durn Hollow, they've been through a lot. They were prisoners in Overwatch, and I'm sure you can imagine what that might have been like. So if you could keep an eye on them, it would be appreciated.

She's just gonna nod her head, just sort of a, "Yep, no problem." Okay, then Diana's gonna nod. It's been nice meeting you. I hope we meet again someday. Get on our horse. You too. Again, good luck. Alright. Everyone do me a favor. Okay. Actually, one of you do me a favor. Okay. Give me a D20 roll. Okay. Hey, I rolled a five last time you had me do that yesterday. Yeah, you did. That went really well, though. Riding east, you're going to reach the Deadwood, which is not a hospitable place in Theria. It pretty much divides the east and west coast. It is a tremendously dangerous place for merchants and any slow-moving travelers to cross, and it is pretty much famous for orc ambushes over all things.

Standing in the middle of the road is a lone orc. Hmm. Don't orcs usually come in multiples? Normally, yes. Hold up, guys. I think I smell a trap. This is fishy. Should we run a perception check instead? You might wanna. Yeah, that sounds like... Do we all do it or...? You go to Yenward when you want a good perception roll. All of a sudden. Yenward's gonna take in the surroundings and sort of glancing around, and he doesn't spot any of the usual telltale signs of an orc ambush. Orcs don't hide particularly well, so trees have to be pretty damn big to be able to hide behind and things for an orc.

They tend to make noise. They're not incredibly graceful creatures. But the trees in this area are a little thinner, so if there were orcs hiding, you'd kinda see their shoulders stick out or weapons or armor or something. There just appears to be a lone orc standing in the middle of this road. Does Yenward relay that information to us? Yeah. Yes? I don't really see anybody else. I think he's just... I don't know what he's doing. You think we could take him? Maybe he doesn't even wanna fight us. Maybe we could just ride by him. If there really is only one of him, then we shouldn't have anything to fear, but that's suspicious, to say the least.

I kinda like Yenward's idea. Why don't we just ride by him? If he does take a swipe at us, we can still fight him. He's only one of them. It's not like he can get all of us at once, and he's not gonna kill us in one hit. So let's just kinda mosey on by. Sounds reasonable. Okay. So we're not even gonna try to sneak by. We're just gonna try to... We're just gonna ride by, gnaw at him like, "Morning." Like another Traveler is. Right. Like he's just a passerby. Just the tip of the cap, "Good day." Whistle. We're gonna whistle. Well first, like... Disrespectful. Umm...

That's not disrespectful. I'd nodded at you. I said, "Good morning." It would be disrespectful if we hit you with an axe or something. Just tapped him on the top of the head with a stick like, "Bup bup bup!" as you're riding by. You are showing proper Traveler etiquette right now, sir. Umm... Yeah, he's gonna try to flag him down like, "Hey, one second please." Oh god, he wants us. Umm... Alright, that would be cool. Yeah, what's up? Hey! His sword, by the way, is still on his back. It's not actually in his hand or anything like that. He's not trying to flag it down that way.

He's gonna ask, "Are you the group who attacked my people?" What he's gonna look towards... Kind of confused and look... Diana looks towards the rest of the party. Duncan has no idea. Duncan goes, "Uh, no! We weren't. We didn't attack anybody." Well, to be fair, they attacked us first. We were trying to, you know... Kind of pad the numbers to take on Carter. And we wanted to see if you guys were game and you got all kind of pissy. Okay, I want to talk to you then. He's gonna walk a bit to the side so they're alone. Alright, I'll hop off my horse and go with him.

I'll put a hand up to everybody else. He's cool. He's gonna start, like, as they're a few feet away. He's like, "I'm gonna have to ask you to prove it. That you are the people that actually attacked mine." I just ran a stealth stack to see if I could get close enough to where I can kind of hear them a little bit. Is 23 enough to get there? Okay, so the way I pictured it was that they just wandered. They just moved away a little bit so that they're out of earshot. They're not, like, hiding. It's more just... Right. Now it's more of a like conversation that they're speaking to each other.

They're not speaking at a high voice. So we can't hear them, though. Right. So I ran the stealth stack to see if I can move a little bit closer without them noticing it's like it here. Does that pass? I would say yeah. Okay. So while that's going on, Duncan interrupts and goes, "Mr. Ork, if you're planning on fighting him, you're gonna have to fight all of us." Okay, he's gonna notice Duncan for the first time, and he's gonna start reaching for his weapon slowly and say, "Is that a dwarf?" Well, okay, I see what's happening here. He's not, like, one of them, you know?

He looks like a dwarf to me. I know he looks like one, but he's different. He's nice. Put that story down, dude, or I'm gonna have to grab mine. Okay, he's gonna look right back at Yenward, and he's gonna say, "Was he one of them that attacked my people, too?" He wasn't there. He lives with humans. They don't even like him. Like, honestly. Hey. You know it's true. You dress weird. I dress like a damn child. Put your pants on. Duncan starts reaching for his sword, too. Alright, he's gonna start pointing it back into his scabbard, then. Duncan puts his back and kind of moves back to Diana a little bit.

Alright, let's... What's your name? Darthag. Alright, Darthag. We have a very pressing matter at hand, and time is of the essence. So, what do you need from us? What do you need from me? We're just trying to pass through. We don't want no trouble. Right now, I just want to join your group. Duncan goes, "Is it safe? Is he gonna eat me?" Alright, I'm gonna need you to put your fangs away, because those are scary, too. But he's cool. Dan is gonna scythe and dismount and walk over. I stay on my horse, and I come over. He wants to come with us, but I don't know if that's a good idea.

I don't want to make the decision for us. Is he nice? I don't know if he's nice. He's scary. Is he scarier than Deaconis? No. Okay, he can come. Can you breathe fire? No. Okay, it's not a scary instrument. Why do you want to come with us? Like, what do we get out of it? An extra sword? Can you even fight? You want me to prove it right now? There's no need for that. What are your intentions? Right now, I gotta talk to other leaders. See exactly how city life is. Besides that, you don't need to know anymore. If you're going to be coming along with us... Alright, he's going to sigh and start looking up.

He's going to say, "I'm not going to burn the towns down, if that's what you mean." What do you know? We've had a lot of people come through our party who had a lot of secrets, and it never worked out very well. I'm not saying that we need to sit here in the middle of this dark forest and discuss your life story, but we can't go very far if we don't know who you are and what you're up to. So, if you want to help us make it through this forest, and then maybe when we have some time, we can sit down and talk, and decide if you're going to be with us permanently.

That's fine. I can do that. Does that sound reasonable to everybody? Yeah, stay to the front so we can keep an eye on you. Agreed. An extra sword won't hurt going through this part of the world. We don't have another horse for you, though. So you're going to have to keep up with us. I can just take yours. He's going to look over at his horse and be like, "Oh." Can we twozies on the horse? Yeah. I mean, they're meant to carry a shitload of weight. They're not built for speed. I'm going to scooch back a little bit. This is Oliver. He's a rescue. Don't punch him, okay?

Dude, if you punch him, I'm going to kill you so hard. Always kicking me in the face. Okay, is Yenn-Bord up in the horse by now? Yeah. Alright. Is there a check I have to do in order to, like, if I fall off or something like that, am I going to grab Yenn-Bord and take him with me? Probably. I'm going to say... Okay, you're saddling up to ride. Let's have you roll an athletics check. You'd have to roll pretty low to fall off at any point. If you miss this, I'm going to fall on you and you're going to have to play the rest of this campaign with a broken rib.

Okay. How's about we pick up the next day? I'm going to take a cursory look around this camp. Everyone's, you know, the wagon drivers are packing up their bed rolls and everyone's getting ready. Everything appears to be in the same order as you left it in last night. Everyone looks rested and bright-eyed, bushy-tailed. Before leaving camp, is there anything you would like to do? Do I wake up in time to leave with them? Yes, I would say you're awake. You're just not a morning person. I think it's established that Ingrid is not. She is no good until she's had some coffee.

Like, she is no good. No morning. Morning bad. Bad morning. Ew. Drool, drool, drool. Out of force of habit, Cole's going to look around to see if there's any interesting plants or stones. More specifically, stones that would catch his eye. So I guess another perception roll? Go ahead. 16. Yeah, you're not seeing anything. You're not seeing anything that would stand out. Okay. Elorath's probably just going to sling her flail over her shoulder and be like, "Let's go, bitches!" The wagons kick back into gear and you start lurching forward through this mountain pass.

For the next couple of hours, everything is going to go swimmingly. On either side of you, there's a sort of large mountainous region. To the west, it's going to be Betrayal Ridge, which is a series of smaller mountains that kind of leads to a cave system. That has been thoroughly explored before. You're probably not missing anything. To the east is the Black Rock Mountains. The southeast, more specifically. But there are a lot of little smaller mountains in between that, so there is a pass that travelers take. And again, normally the worst you would encounter are drakes, and this is absolute worst case scenario, an ogre or two.

So far, though, nothing like that. Until you hear something in the distance. Everyone do me a favor and roll a perception check. 24. At least I'm being consistent. I'm getting like eight every time. I've kind of woken up slightly. The zombie shuffle is now like with one eye open. Cole and Evelyn are going to hear a very distinct roar. And it's going to click in their head and it doesn't make any sense. Because this area is not known for dragons. But that sounded very much like a dragon. Evelyn's going to stop and whip back to look at anybody else to see if they heard that.

I'm just going to, when you do, I'm just going to give you a slight nod with a concerned look on my face. Cresting over one of the nearby mountains. You're going to see a tiny figure in the distance and it's going to screech as it swings past this mountain. And then starts to dive down towards your caravan. And then a second is going to swing over that same mountain and follow that first dragon. These appear to be very young red dragons. Probably no more than a year or two old. But two things. One, they are well outside of where you would normally spot something like that.

And two, even a young red dragon is nothing to be taken lightly. They can burn down this caravan very quickly and eat you all alive. This is the worst case scenario for a traveler. You are with a slow moving caravan. You have no horses and you are pretty much pinned in between two mountainous regions. Guys, you are about to be tacked. If everyone would like to please roll initiative. I got this. I can do this. And I use my initiative to fucking run. That crit initiative. This is bullshit. Yay! I got a three! Yay! Oh no, Cole, you also got a three. Well, that's normal.

Elrath have at it. Now these dragons, okay, so they are going to swoop into this little valley in between the two mountain ridges here, this path. And they are going to sort of slam down right in front of the caravan. These horses are going to rear up as these wagons struggle to stop. Pretty violently actually. They weren't heading in a very fast pace. But the sudden stop is going to fall, some of this wood is going to fall off of the back. The last caravan, the second wagon is going to sort of stop really abruptly. These horses are going to start panicking.

The first dragon that sort of swooped in is just going to let loose this roar. And it is very clear they plan on attacking you. Okay, well, Elrath, being not of sound mind, is going to... First off, she is going to activate Defender Aura, the at will minor action. So it's an aura one that lasts as long as I keep it up or until I follow unconscious. And while in it, any enemy takes a -2 penalty to attack rolls when it attacks somebody other than me. And she's going to swing at red dragon number two. She's going to try run down. She's going to make this happen one day.

Miss. Not today, but... Today is not that day. These dragons are not huge. They're a little larger than the size of a minotaur. They're large enough to carry any one of you off or whatever. But I mean, especially a gnome or a halfling. That's really, really intimidating. But yes, they are not... They're manageable. I mean, they can do a lot of damage really quickly, but they're not full scale dragons. But, Angrid, your turn. Alright, so first I'm going to use my movement and I'm going to move over here. And then I'm going to use Lightning Strike. I'm going to target the red dragon wyrmling two.

Did that hit? That'll hit, yep. Excellent. So I'm going to do damage to him. And then, his little friend, red dragon number one, is also going to take a bit of damage. So, both of them should be done and I am finished with my turn. Sora, your turn. Okay, so the first thing I'm going to do is I'm going to move and then... Back. Basically you're moving way back. Yes, yes, yes. I'm going to put Hunter's Quarry on number two and I'm going to do Twin Strike. There we go. They were both hits. Yeah! Awesome. Okay, so I'm going to do my damage for both of them. And then, because I have Hunter's Quarry, I'm going to just have you and then do damage for that.

Well done. Yes. Evelyn, your turn. Yeah, I'm going to do a basic melee. Okay. And I missed. That'll miss. So, well, I guess I'm... Alright, red dragon wurmling number one. He's going to actually take flight and swoop down behind Evelyn. Seriously? Yeah, seriously. And he is going to bite down at Evelyn, actually. Ooh, thirteen. That will miss. Red dragon wurm... Okay. Red dragon two is going to try and claw at Elorath. And while he's doing this, he's also going to try and wrap his talons around little Elorath too. So, if he hits, he will also grab her. Does he call her little because she gets pissed?

He doesn't vocalize it, but it's in his eyes. You can kind of tell that he thinks you're small. Oh, choke a bitch. Crit one, actually. Oh. He is going to pop an action point. Oh. And try that one more time. Necessary. And he's going to miss a second time. Oh, that's crazy. I like to think that she's like, "Yeah, you can't hit me because I'm so little." What? Cole, your turn. I'm going to use my minor action to use wild shape, and I'm going to change into my black wolf form. And I'm going to move toward dragon number...worm...well, whatever the fuck this is, number two.

And I'm going to initiate a pounce. Ooh. Eight. That's an eight. That is going to miss. Alright. Fuck it. Action point. Alright. Grasping claws. That'll hit. Awesome. Seventeen. Damage. Nine damage. You have bloodied the dragon as a result of being bloodied. Oh joy. He's going to reach out and use both bite and claws against Cole. Bring it, bitch. Negative two. That bite is going to miss. The claw is going to hit. Alright. Okay. Can't be greedy. Fourteen damage. Cole is bloodied and grabbed. Alright. And that would be the end of your turn, sir? Yes. Okay. Aaron, your turn. Okay.

Alright. Let's see here. Well, can I shoot and then move? Yeah, sure. Badoop. Oh, that'll hit. You didn't target. Badoop. Three damage. Three damage. Take that three damage. Alright. And then like a crazed person, I'm going to move towards the dragon. And I am going to give a beautiful bolstering speech to Cole. And I am going to tell Cole that this is our Independence Day. And then I am bolstering speech and I will give him five temporary hit points. And that'll be my turn. Alarath, your turn. Let's try. She's going to try Devastating Strike at red dragon wyrmling number two.

And I've got combat advantage. Twenty-four to hit. Yeah. Alright. So, damage. You have just killed that dragon. Oh. Thank you. Okay, well, then I guess the effect doesn't take place. Alarath is going to cave this dragon's skull in as it wraps its talons around Cole. He is going to loosen his grip immediately and just sort of like slump off and his neck is going to coil up around Cole. Let's action point. Okay. And we're going to swing at it with Escalating Violence. Okay, so do I have it targeted? Yes, I do. Escalating Violence. Nope. Shit. That's a nine. Yeah. That's my turn.

Ingrid, your turn. Alright, so I am going to target red dragon number one with Stormwalk. There we go. I am all finished. Awesome. Hit eleven damage. And Sora, your turn. Okay. So I'm going to use an encounter power Evasive Strike and then we roll. Oh, and I have 100 square on him. I said it before it hit. That's okay. That'll hit, yes. Okay, so Evasive Strike damage. Fourteen damage. Uh oh. Wait, but I'm not done. Neither is he. As a result of being bloodied. This dragon is feeling a little claustrophobic. He has been attacked from all sides and he is going to whip around and use Wyrmling Fury on Elorath.

Okay. I'm sorry. First he is going to try and bite. That is going to miss. Now he's going to try and claw. That is going to miss. Uh huh. Yes. Odd duck. No, you just stand. Elorath is over there like botting. Yeah, you just stand there. Yeah, you just stand still. Let's just be real here. She's so short it just whizzes overhead. Oh, excuse me, there's a breeze. Sora, go ahead. So I'm going to apply the Haunus Quarry damage. Another one. Anything else? That is it. Another one. So target red dragon one and then my combat advantage and use my Aspect of the Regal Lion and then I'm going to do a basic melee.

That'll hit. Yeah. And then damage. Can't, oh I'm going to do Power Strike. Okay. And then dual weapon. That will hit. You have just killed the dragon. Yes. Yeah, we did it. I'm going to ship out of my wolf form and back into my shifter form and be like, fuck. Well, that was unexpected. Oh my God. Where did they come from? That was going to be my question. We were clear out of dragon territory. I'm going to look at Cole and I'm going to meet his eyes and I'm going to raise an eyebrow and say, well, there's another story. Duncan is kind of trying to, he looks kind of visibly, I wouldn't say shaken, but just a little bit more nervous than normal.

And he's kind of just going through his things and kind of trying to keep into himself a little bit more than he normally does. Also keeping an eye on Dirthag. Dirthag, yeah. So that's what he would be doing. He's trying not to make it obvious, but you can tell that he's bottling something up. All right. Are we going to have an actual fire going? Yeah. It's like a little campfire and you've settled down for the moment. Yeah, we're just down trying to make a fire happen because we don't have a dragon anymore. This rabbit sticks together and stuff. Diana can make fire.

Oh yeah. So while Ynward's trying to make the fire, Diana can. I think if I wasn't a tiefling, I think like, Prestidigitation does that, can do that. So while Ynward's rubbing sticks together, Diana just... She just wastes her hand. There's a fire. Ynward's going to throw his hands up in victory as a guise. Dirthag's going to start reaching into a sack, grab some cheap liquor, and he's going to just grab a leg of a deer and just start going to town on that. Was the leg of the deer also in your sack? Did you just have that in your bag? Yeah. It's got hair on it.

Now it's got my mouth on it. It's fine. Duncan kind of moves a little bit closer to the party, still looks nervous about something, but goes to Dirthag and kind of goes, "So why don't you explain yourself a little bit more? Why do you need to travel with us?" Yeah, who are you? He's going to crudely wipe his mouth with his arm and he's going to start talking. So I don't know how much you know about the orc society, but right now it's important for me. I don't know if it's important for my entire people, but it's important for me to actually learn more about different culture and theria.

If it's just for me to fit in what my people are doing, whatever they do or not, that's all that matters to me is that me and my clan can actually keep going. Where exactly did you get this interest in culture, no offense, but that doesn't seem to be the usual case with orcs. All right, he's going to look over at Yennward and say, "How many of you were there that attacked my people?" Five? That's the problem right there, that five of you came in, killed our leader and then got out alive. There's no organization there. And you just suddenly came into this realization?

It was a few months ago. I don't want to talk about that, but I don't want to talk about the events that actually occurred to make me start thinking more about this, but it's important that I do this, if not for my people, then just for myself. So if you travel with us and you come with us, you've got our back, right? We can't expect to wake up one day and you not be there. Or, if you're a part of this group, you're a part of this group. You're not just traveling with us. You understand that, right? I'm with you. And your battles are our battles and our battles are your battles.

Is that okay? I'll provide. I'll be able to hang with you guys. I'm not going to just abandon you. And whatever we get, we split. There's no hoarding. Okay, that's fine. What are you people doing anyway? We're currently headed to Uminiro. For what? To save the world. Again. I was looking at a map and are we going to go through the mountains or are we going to go around the mountains? Jason, what are the dangers of each, like generally, like... Going around takes longer. There's dangers in everything, but... Well, if you're going around, that's going to take longer.

If you're going around, you're going around Blacktip Forest, you're going up near Orash, and you're circling back around Uminiro. That is totally an option. I thought we'd go down south, go that way. Go through the two mountains and... Right, through the two mountains, then swing around past Oldmoor, then up near Uminiro. That's what I've been originally thinking as well. Right. Again, both ways have dangers with them. If you're going up north, you're probably going to have to deal with a Dragonborn. They can be a little stubborn and shitty with trespassers.

Yeah, let's not do that. They're also in a massive state of flux right now where they're in the middle of choosing a new leader, which is an incredibly violent, sort of bloodsporty thing, and they get very territorial during that period of time. And then, of course, there's things like mountain trolls, dragons, drakes, that type of thing. Heading this way is usually a lot safer. You're just dealing with things like bandits, you're dealing with things... Well, the problem is you're going to be swinging through Dragon's Reach and in between two very important forests, one of which, of course, is Bandit's Rest, and the other is the Silverglade.

Two completely different sets of dangers. But, yeah, once you're back on the road and you're going to hit a little town called Whiteheadge, you're pretty much in the clear. All you've got to do is worry about bandits, and you guys really don't need to worry about bandits all that much. I was thinking we would take the southern route. That's usually safer. Okay, Duncan immediately gets tense. If it's safer, then I guess that's what we can do. Is you appear to be upset by that somehow? Can we make sure that we avoid Bandits Rest for now? Can we avoid it? She's going to look at him for a couple seconds, then just nod.

I see no reason why not. It would be certainly the safest route. And then, I just kind of nod my head, okay. Okay. As long as we can avoid Bandits Rest, then we can go south. I know it's going to take a long time, but I would appreciate it if we don't go through it. Here's what we're going to do. We are going to pick up the next morning, and we're going to get you guys on horseback, and moving toward Uinyero. You are entering an area in Dragon's Reach between the Blistering Peaks and the Hazon Mountains. I would like one of you to roll a flat D20 for me, please.

Okay. How about we all do it? Then you'll have to pick the best. I have a feeling that Tom is just hovering over D20 at all times. I'm just ready to go. I do. I leave my mouse pointer near my dice so I can jump on it quickly. Which is pretty good also. Me, Ume. Fourteen. All right. In between these two sets of mountains here, the team is going to be riding. You've been on the road now for hours again after you've gotten mobile and saddled up. A shadow is going to blot out the sun directly above the team. Just woke up. It's night time already. Set up camp, guys.

Would that be a first set? Everyone, please roll Perception for me. Yeah, picture. We all kind of shield our eyes and look up. I can't wait to rock-sies every day. Mine's pretty good, guys. Oh, twenty-two. Dirthag and Dirthag. Yenward and Dirthag are going to look up and see the silhouette of a dragon directly above you. This dragon is sort of coasting fairly low overhead and is going to fly directly over the party. It's going to fly westernly for just a little bit and then it's going to start to circle back around. Like towards us? It looks like it's coming back around toward you.

He's going to scream dragon and he's going to hop off and grab the horse like a shield. He's going to grab the hair of the horse so it stays right there and uses a shield. And Yenward is still on the horse? Yes. I want to reach down and paw at his head. Stop it. Get back on. We've got to run. Stupid. Let's go. What do you guys want to do in this situation here? Run. We have horses, Ron. Yenward? She's it. Let's go. Okay. I'm going to reach down and I'm going to grab Dirthag and yeah, we're going. I want someone to roll a D20 with a flat 10 modifier. 17. 17. Okay. Okay.

So you guys are going to take off like a shot down this canyon and you are riding at break pick speed just trying to end. I don't know if canonically we named him Little Sebastian. That was actually canonically his name. Yes, Little Sebastian. Duncan's horse Little Sebastian is desperately trying to keep up. Just little legs. Duncan's face is taking a scooter. This dragon is going to come. You can hear it behind you. It is going to get very low and it's going to fit neatly in between the mountains of this canyon. And it is going to take another pass at the party and this time it's almost so low that it's touching Yenward's horns.

I mean it is low. You can feel the breeze come, like the wind kicks up behind you as he passes over pretty aggressively. And he's going to do the same thing he did before and he's going to fly far ahead of you and then he's going to start to turn around and come back. Yenward, do me a favor and make one more check. Same thing. Plus ten. Sure thing. Oh. Fourteen. Damn it. This dragon is going to line up pretty much directly with the party and open his mouth and as you can see this almost a pilot light in his mouth as he is flying directly toward the party he is going to blast a jet stream of fire toward the ground.

So here's what I'm going to give you an opportunity to do. Okay. I'm going to give you one chance to dodge this. Okay. So you're on horseback. I'm going to give you the opportunity to make an acrobatics check. Everyone in the party. Can you give me athletics? Fuck. You're on horseback. You're on horseback. You're pretty much leaping off your horses. So no modifier. You don't have. I'm just joking. You can give me athletics bro. You're jumping. It's an acrobatics. I'm using fire shield. I don't want to roll first. I don't want to roll. I have the lowest possible model.

My dexterity is. I'm going to tell you right now. If you roll a 16 or higher. You will not be caught in this blast. What you does it. Now, 26. So, Derethak is going to leap off this horse and sort of roll out of the way of this blast. And I'm going to have to roll a 13 bro. Fuck. Somebody else is going. Holy shit. I crit. Oh. With mine almost being a crit, can I reach and grab his ear or something like that and try to take him with me? No. So everyone but Yenward. So everyone is going to leap off their horse at the last minute and try to roll out of the way. This fire is.

It's almost a wall in front of Yenward and it is. It starts out as something that looks stationary and it is going to rocket. And just rip through this canyon. And it is going to coat Yenward and his horse. And bathe them in flame. So let's. This is an attack. So wait. What about the other horses that we jumped off? Well, we're going to get to that in a second. 24 for sure reflex. Yeah. Yeah. It is a plus three. That's going to hit. I figured. Yeah. But I had to ask. Why is it a team? This is going to hit Yenward and his horse. A couple of the other horses after they jumped off there.

If they're a little further back than Yenward they're going to break just in time to not be fucking caught in this blast. So. 44 damage to Yenward. Okay. So this is going to rip through this canyon and the dragon is going to continue back. And he is going to. He's going to continue east. And then he's going to start to turn around and fly back after a bit. What is Yenward's reaction to being caught in this blast? Well, what condition is Yenward and Oliver? Oliver is going to drop to the ground after a while. There's momentum behind him though. So it's. He is going to try to stop.

But obviously this flame is just going way too fast. And Yenward and Oliver are going to get caught in this blast. Yenward is going to live. Oliver is going to not live so much. So Yenward is on his feet. I would imagine he's tumbling to the ground. Kind of a stop, drop and roll type of thing. And that's going to take a good chunk of Yenward's health. And it's going to be incredibly painful. But he's going to live. He's going to look around panicked for where the most people the party darted to. And he's just going to take off on foot in that direction. Alright, give me an athletics check.

Keep doing it. Oh yeah! Gorgeous. A burst of adrenaline is going to hit Yenward and he is going to make a mad dash for the side of the road where the rest of the party fled. He is screaming. Is Yenward on fire? I would imagine there's little patches of Yenward's fur that are still smoldering. I was going to say we don't need to burn down another one. So I see him running in some patterns. Blackened minotaurs. No, no, no! As he's running. For a minotaur, Yenward is booking it. Yenward is making terrific time. This is Olympic caliber. I'm running a four or five guys.

Yeah. That is not going to outrun this dragon though. And this dragon is going to tear back down this canyon. And this time it appears as though he is opening his mouth to try and take a snap at Yenward. The goal would be to just plain old scoop Yenward up and fly away. Oh, fuck. Is there? What? Yenward is... Hold on. Yenward is going to make it just far enough to the side of the road that the dragon would have to rub up against this canyon in order to get at him. So you're going to hear this tremendous snapping sound from the dragon just as Yenward clears the main portion of this road.

The dragon is incredibly frustrated by this and it appears as though he is going to fly back west and then turn around and make another strafing run. You guys are on the edge of this forest. It is up to you. You could probably hide in the forest and just get away from him at this point. It would be pretty damn hard for him to follow you. Let's do that. That sounds good. Wait for me. Yenward is going to reconvene with the party and all of you are going to run into Bandit's Rest. At least the outer rims of it. You're going to hear this dragon slam into the ground as it lands and sort of frustratedly searching the area.

You can hear it stomp around but it's not going to be able to see you through the trees. After a few moments you're going to hear it take off. It's not exactly a stealthy creature. It appears as though it's going to fly away and just give up the chase. It did get a horse out of the situation. Duncan runs up with full force and just hugs Yenward's leg and looks up at him and goes "I thought you were going to die. I thought he was going to eat you." Me too. You've killed my horse. You can have my horse. You can have him. It's yours. I want to look over towards Sebastian and I'm just going to walk into the forest.

Yemward's going to stumble back. He's still patting himself out. Duncan kind of looks at Diana and gives her a thank you nod towards her without saying it out loud. Still not back. Can I do a perception check to see what's going on out there? Like to check the skies? Yeah, go ahead. Almost correct. No, that was an 11. You decide to catch up. Can you see a dragon? Can you introduce something? I want him to break off a branch, like a big enough one that I can put it over my head so I look like a shrub from above. Tie it to the shiny gold crown. You guys are not seeing a dragon.

You're also not seeing an Oliver. Oliver's gone. But the other horses, they are nearby. They're near enough by that you can recover them. They're sort of off to the side of the road where you guys ditch them. You are three quarters of the way to this witch's cabin. Who would like to do me a favor and roll a d20? Not it. Going to do this last one. It should be your last one. You're going to do this one a little bit differently. That's a two. We needed to discuss that. Out of the bushes up ahead. You're going to hear a pretty massive ruckus. These bushes are going to start to shake violently and charging at you.

It's kind of emerging from this underbrush. Are going to be the largest rats you've ever seen. They are about the size of full grown labradors. They are sort of covered in these big, thick, hairy spines. I can already tell by the chat you watched that movie too. You grew up with that too. Here's what's going to happen. I'm going to target three random party members. These rodents are going to get a chance to attack you three and do some damage before scampering off. Let's pick three. That would be Dagon, Raylan, and Airalive. Wait, wait. Shenanigans. Three, four, five.

This is going to be versus your reflexes. This is just a flat roll. Twenty-three versus your reflexes. That just hit me. Okay. So Raylan's the only one getting hit, huh? Yeah, I got hit too. I got a 23. Oh, did you? Okay. So let's see here. Let's roll damage. Now the good news is this isn't a lot of damage. That's just kind of gnawing at you, right? So 21 damage to the two of you. Not a lot of damage, huh? That's not. I'm just saying it could have been a lot worse. That's the good news. The bad news is that you are both now infected with Dire Rat Fever. Great. If someone would like to roll a nature check to find out what that's going to do to you.

I got hit. Twenty-eight. Twenty-eight. So Dire Rat Fever isn't something that's too terrible in the grand scheme of things. It's not too terrible. It's not great. I'm going to level with you. So over the course of the next three days, you are going to break out and do a really nasty fever. It's going to come on almost like a really terrible flu. And it's going to become harder and harder for you to stand upright. You're going to start to sort of hunch down over. And eventually you are going to not be able to stand. You almost have to walk on all fours or crawl to where you're trying to get.

Another side effect is you're going to lose the ability to speak. Right around late day two, somewhere in there, it's going to become harder and harder for you to form words. And finally, in the final stage of the disease where it's completely irreversible, after somewhere around day three, you will not be able to stand up under your own power anymore. It's almost like a really nasty version of scoliosis. You'll be so hunched over that you're pretty much walking on all fours. You start to almost physically resemble a rat the way you carry yourself. You will not be able to speak.

And you will start to lash out at things. It will be very tough for you to be reasoned or reasoned with. You will attack party members. You will attack. But you will bite them. So not super effective. But you will be able to spread the disease after day three. So it's not the worst thing to ever happen to anybody. It's easily treatable. Well, that's good. Do we know of a cure, like a homeotic remedy that we could find in the swamp while we're here? In the swamp, it's going to be a little tricky, but any herbalist worth a salt would sell what you need. So any town would get you pretty much what you need.

The witch probably too, huh? That might be a safe bet, yeah. And where's the nearest town? That's the tricky part. Is it Overwatch? Overwatch. Overwatch would be the nearest. I don't want to brag, but... I'm going with the witch. There's got to be something in the Evergreen. Or did that all get destroyed? Well, yeah, that happens. Well, elves would be able to help you if you can find some that can treat you in time. I mean, yes, they would definitely be able to help you. A decent portion of the Evergreen was burned down recently, though you haven't seen the full extent of that.

Airlove wouldn't know the full extent of it. Kori wouldn't know even though she lived there for a while, but hasn't been there recently. You do know Strahd flew through, so it's a pretty good guess that some destruction was done, but you don't know the full extent of it yet. So you can trek forward and just try to get to the witch. You can make a break for the Overwatch, or you can make a break for the Evergreen and look for some elves to help you out. Well, we've got three days, right? Three days. Remember, you are traveling on foot, for one. You're going to be traveling in an area where it's going to take you a little longer to get to places.

After you get past the swamp, you'll be traveling at full speed again, but trudging through this thick bog is slowing you down a little bit. How much farther is the witch? Right there. You're a few hours away. You're pretty much right there. Jason, I know this isn't going to do anything. The rats probably already scurried off, but I'm going to do infernal wrath when they hit me. The rat f*ckers burns. The rat bursts into flames if it makes you feel better. It does. I wish they'd attacked me. I'm immune to diseases. I don't mean to brag. I wish they hadn't attacked me.

I'm already small, now I have to be hunched over. Well Dagon, if it makes you feel better, I wish they would have bitten me instead. My psionic power is going to go all nuts. Oh gosh, this could be very dangerous. So not only do we have to talk to the witch, but now we have to convince her to cure us. Oh yeah, there's not going to be a trade-off there. Forest bite. Forest bite? So we're going to chance it with her first then, right? Let's move on. This does nothing for the image of tieflings. Could you imagine hunched over biting? Well, someone else might have to do the talking now when we get there and...

Well you could still speak. Yeah, we're right there. Until the latter. If we hurry up, we don't have to worry about this for now, and we can worry about it later. Since we're so close to the witch, I suggest we press on and get there as fast as we can. Okay. Yeah, the three of you, right now you just got to worry about looking sweaty and feverish. That's right now. Sorry, did all three of us get bitten? Yeah. So the three party members were the lowest reflex, I think. No, mine's way low. Oh, that's right. I was super excited that I didn't get bit. I'm not kidding.

I was like, I have an 18 reflex. Yeah, I'm not great either. Yeah, but one of you is immune, so it'd be okay. You're right. This is the one instance where you're like, "Oh, I hope I get hit." Well, okay. Do you remember when I had you guys roll a flat D20 earlier? Yes, I had rolled a five. You did roll a five. I thought you rolled a 21. I don't recall that. I recall five. I'm pretty sure. Well, what that's going to do- Jordy rules, Jason. Yeah, democracy. This is not a democracy is the problem. You did it wrong. I'm not quoting fucking the cheerleading movie. I'm not doing that.

Cheerleading movies? Oh, I thought that's what you were referencing. I was referencing Walking Dead. Oh, that. This is not democracy. That's going to dictate Darmok's mood. Oh, goodie. Oh, no. I did it, you guys. You did, honey? Well, he has to make personalities. Maybe it's just one per 20. Well, he has his lucid days, and then he has the days where the line between fantasy and reality blurs for him a bit, and even perceived slights and things that he is just paranoid about become reality for him. So a five is not great. So we're going to deal with that. It's going to take you guys a couple of days to get to Esterhold.

About three, really. You're still in your fairly slow-moving wagon, although a much smoother ride. And you're going to breeze into Esterhold after a time. Now, Nem would know where Darmok's house is, and even if you didn't, it wouldn't take long to find out. It's pretty famous, infamous, really, in the area. So I don't know if you guys just want to head there or if there's something else you'd like to do. I'm sorry, what are we delivering again? Is it just a letter? Oh, you're picking up. Oh, okay, okay, okay. Sorry. So, walking up to the front door of Darmok's house, who would like to knock?

I'll do it. Yes, I'm Travis. It's always Travis. He's your spokesperson. I like that. When it's not Cava, it's... I always picture Cava just crossing her arms, just standing intimidatingly in the background. She expects everybody else to do it. Like, I own your ass. Just do it. Do I need to roll anything in particular? Oh no, just knocking. I don't know if they're like... I have a +4 at knocking. After a few moments, a very elderly gentleman is going to open the door. And after a few minutes, he's sort of looking over the party. Can I help you with anything? We're supposed to pick up a delivery?

Grattik sent us? At the name Grattik, he's going to cock an eyebrow. Yes, of course, come in. And he's going to step aside and open the door really wide. I'm going to wipe my feet before I come in. That's very kind of you. He just swept. For an older gentleman, this guy appears to be kind of spry. He looks ancient, but he moves fairly easily. Most people his age kind of hobble where they're going. He's not bounding anywhere or anything, but he moves with a grace that most old people just don't have. And he's going to open the door wide and motion for you all to come in.

I'm sad now. I forgot he died horribly and alone. Yeah, and he knew he was going to die and he just didn't tell anyone. Anyway, then we'll come in. Yeah, I guess. And he is going to close the door behind you. The package you're looking for is in the back room. I could try to get it for you if you like. Try to get it for us? And he kind of looks up in the air as if he's trying to find the right words. He's on a high shelf or something. You need a boost? It's in Master Doimach's possession and he's having an off day. Well, tell Cranky Pants to give us our shit.

We got things to do, man. He's going to sort of open his eyes wide. I'll see what I can do. Stay here, please. Okay. And he is going to disappear into the back room. Who would like to roll Perception for me? I have a five, you guys. Nine. Thirteen. Thirteen! Thirteen. Thirteen it is. Twenty-two. Twenty-two. Sonya is going to hear the older man walk into the room. And then after a few moments, there's going to be some murmuring back and forth. And then sort of this sharp venomous shout is going to come from the other room. And then after a few moments, the old man is going to leave the back area and sort of a look of defeat, sort of looking down.

Master Doimach actually requests your presence before you hand over the package. And then a moment is going to go by and he's going to look directly, he's going to look over the group. I am very sorry. And he is going to step out of the way and motion with his hand to the back room. Well, okay, let me ask a question. How much would Nym have told the group about Doimach? I imagine on the trip here she would kind of like have told them everything like, "This fucker." But like the way she was saying it, like, this is really like she was obviously saying like, "Protect me from him because I'm the prettiest of all of you." I mean, they would have picked up something in the shop.

It's like, "You're sending us to that fucking guy?" Yeah. But she'll like let them in on pretty much everything and be like, "You have to protect me because I'm the prettiest one." I guess Kama would just charge in, honestly. Okay. Yeah. We'll follow behind. Do me a favor, everyone roll Perception. Okay. Cha-cha. Eleven. I got a hot hand. Oh my god, I got a four. Thirteen. Four. Oh yeah. Oh my. Okay. I'm so glad I rolled low. Percept the fuck out of this. Calith, Kava, Sonya. Walking into this room, you're going to see a fairly elegantly dressed tiefling, tall, sort of on the thin side.

Pretty well manicured, pretty well kept, except for his fingernails. There's something really unkept and sort of gnarled about his fingernails. They're almost talons. They've grown so long. And he's sitting in this overstuffed leather chair. And sitting extremely close to him, in a smaller chair, it's sort of lower to the ground, is a young lady who, if you had to assign a word to describe her, broken is pretty much it. Eyes cast down to the ground. Doesn't even look up at the party as they enter the room. Arms very close to her side, just sort of almost guarding herself, it looks like.

Darmok is sort of dragging his nail up and down the arm of his leather chair, just very slowly. He's done it so many times, you can see that there's this sort of ingrained mark left by his middle finger. Just going back and forth, really absentmindedly. It doesn't even look like he knows he's doing it. And he's sort of staring off into the middle distance, and then as the party walks into the room, he's gonna sort of swivel his head, almost like a snake. He doesn't turn his body, he's just gonna sort of turn his head at an angle towards the party and sort of absentmindedly take them in.

He's not really focused on any one of you. So I really want to use arcane springboard on him as we're walking out, like he just flies into the ceiling. Don't do anything that he'll take out on Jadzia later. Yeah, damn it. You find out that's like, she's already been burned by this point, but you find out like that's... That's the big one. What are we talking about? Sounds depressing. I just heard the word burn, and I'm like, well... Sonya's gonna get Jadzia's beep. That'll make Darmok take it out on Jadzia later. Right. Shit. Although honestly he's so crazy that he'll just take it out on her while we're there.

Yeah, that's a... Okay, um... So Nem is a tiefling as well as a vampire, so there's like... She wouldn't be afraid of him because of what he is except for how fucking scary he is. So she's just gonna kind of put her hands on her hips like, "I'm gonna fucking do this." We were supposed to take a package from you. He's going to focus in on Nem. Don't focus in on me. And his eyes are just sort of... There's sort of a glaze that accompanies his stare that's not... You can't tell if he's really focused on you, if he's even lucid, if he's... If he even knows what he's staring at.

And then after a few months, still tracing this line back and forth into the chair. Gratik sends a whore to do his dirty work. Why would he do that? That's not even an insult, that's just accuracy. That also doesn't take any sort of role. These are all just facts. No, it's not. Well, at least a whore knows how to finish the job. *laughter* Oh, don't dish. Glorious. 90% of Nem's lines are sex puns. Even in this situation. *laughter* Oh my god. *laughter* That's actually a really good line. Go ahead, yes, diplomacy. 13. Sharks. Darmok hates puns. *laughter* Guess what trait he picks up from me. *laughter* That's the one thing.

The one thing, yeah. *laughter* Yeah, okay, Jason. That and the blood magic. That and that, yes. And the women in his basement, but you know. *laughter* I don't have a basement, it's a crawlspace. Now, um... It is for them. Oh. Darmok is going to sort of reach his hand over and start to palm at Jadzia's head. Ew. Um, and it's almost an absent-minded thing where he reaches over and he's going to start to sort of drum his fingers on Jadzia's head. Almost like he's thinking about something. And then after a moment... Jadzia... Let's not be rude, let's get our guests their package.

And then he's going to push off. Sort of pushing Jadzia's head the opposite direction, sort of sending her off. But it's fairly aggressive, there's nothing loving about that. As soon as he touches her head, it's very clear that at this point Jadzia is trained not to react to this sort of thing. She doesn't flinch away, she literally does not even move until he pushes her. And then she'll hurry to go grab the package. Can I send Tiv with her? Just as like moral support. Just like a quick little hand motion, like yeah go with her. Like hang out with her. Tiv's like an emotional support animal.

He breaks out some juice boxes from his book bag. I forgot he has a little bag bag! While Jadzia and I guess Tiv, Tiv is going to scurry off and Darmok is going to watch this little raccoon scurry off. And then his eyes are going to slowly pan up to Calith. He's very clean, don't worry. Darmok is going to say nothing, but just continue unblinkingly staring at Calith. Then he's going to go back to tracing that fucking line into his armchair over and over again. And he, after a few moments he's going to stand up. And sort of start to walk towards Calith again, not blinking, just walking.

Tell me, what does an elf and a dragonborn have in common that they would travel together? Debt. And he's going to start to shift his gaze towards Cava. Thank god. Darmok is going to reach out and place his hand on Calith's face. Ugh! Can she bite him? Yes! That probably wouldn't end well. I don't really want to, though. And looking at Cava, is that true? Do you own this creature? Okay, Calith's going to pick his wrist up with her thumb and forefinger, like you do with a dead rat, and just move his hand away from her face. Darmok's going to have a look of one, shock, and two, like you've just violated his personal space.

He did it first! That's hilarious. He's actually going to recoil his hand and touch his... and he's going to let out this tiny little gasp, like, "How dare you touch me!" His hand is kind of quivering the entire time. As that's happening, Cava's going to look back at Darmok and say, "One can't own a person!" Darmok is going to wait for that and then just say, "That's because you've never loved anything enough to own it." And he's sort of smiling when he says it. There's a sense of pride coming off of him. Oh my god. I would say Jadzia would be back by this time.

I'm so grossed out right now. Okay, so when Jadzia comes back in, when she notices that Darmok isn't still sitting where she expected him to be, she's just going to kind of stand in the background holding the package against her chest, waiting for him to notice that she's there. Because she doesn't want to surprise him. And then after a few moments, after he realizes there are other people in the room, he's going to double take back to Jadzia and then motion with his hand for her to come forward. She will. Darmok is going to angrily take a swipe at Jadzia's face.

Yeah, I'd say this is going to hit Jadzia directly in the face. This seems to come out of nowhere. Jesus, as... Oh god, this is going to get so much worse. I want to see if Jadzia drops this package. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I'm going to ask for an... actually an Endurance check. Endurance, she actually had pretty high Constitution. Yeah. So she has 11 at level 11, which means she actually has a 6. Okay. So this with a 6 modifier, 17. 17. Jadzia's going to hold her footing. And she's not going to drop this package. But it does rock her. She almost loses her balance and falls over.

This is how she got such a high Endurance. Yeah, she has endured a lot. And Darmok's going to not even yell. It's more... It is a burst of sudden violence accompanied with almost a calming tone in his voice, which is what's fucking disturbing about this. Oh, that's the only fucking disturbing thing about this? Thanks for pointing that out. Jadzia, I told you not to keep our guests waiting. Don't embarrass me like that again. You just embarrassed yourself. Did Caitlin say that? Oh yeah. Oh fuck yeah. Oh, okay. Fuck. Caitlin's very much like Oona. It's just the beating on women sort of thing.

She's not super down with. Like she'll lie, cheat, and steal, but not so okay with just beating your wife. If it makes you feel any better, he gets what's coming to him later on in life. I've heard. It's not making me feel better. Okay. Darmok is going to snap to attention. This sudden burst of lucidity. Like he is clear-headed and focused for just the briefest of seconds, and he's going to look dead into Caitlin's eyes. What did you say to me, girl? You're embarrassing yourself by beating your wife. This girl is my property, and I will treat her any way I see fit.

His head is sort of shaking as he finishes the sentence. That's uncomfortable. Like gross. I didn't want that to be an end. Caitlin's reaction is just like, "Uh, that's uncomfortable." Caitlin's just going to look at him like, "Ugh, like what the fuck is wrong with you?" Not say that, but definitely that like facial expression. And then just kind of like walk over to Jadzia and like take the package and just kind of like squeeze her hand in like moral support. Jadzia actually, like when Caitlin takes her hand, is her eyes are very quickly going to dart over to Darmok and then she's going to pull her hand away before you can comfort her.

Damn. Darmok is going to see this and then reach over to Jadzia. Oh, god. And sort of pull her tightly against him and then forcefully cradle her head and make her sort of bury her head in his chest. And then just sort of scratch the top of her head with his really long nails. I hope he uses deodorant. He's pretty well groomed. Darmok smells okay. Like he's not, you know. I'll just fuse that in. Even worse. Like too much Axe Body spray. He's like a 14 year old boy. Yeah. And he is, the entire time he's doing it, it seems that he's doing it in direct defiance.

He's not doing it to comfort Jadzia. He's doing it to spite Calith. More to show Calith is like, can I see? We're stronger than ever. That kind of thing. In his head, that's what he's doing. I think you should take your leave now. Yeah, can we leave? And then characters like Takapa like out of the corner of our mouth like, yeah, can we fucking leave? Thank you for overstaying our welcome, guys. Thank you very much, sir. You and your wife have a tremendous day. We will see ourselves out. Goodbye. Goodbye. I was going to tell him, didn't your mom ever teach you not to hit a lady?

I think his mom probably does some really fucked up shit. But his mom like still talks to him, but then you turn around the swivel chair and she's a skeleton. Tarmoc's mom was actually a really nice lady. Like it just like, um, Jeffrey will- Wait, are you telling me he doesn't have mommy issues? Oh, no, he has mommy issues, but it's not her fault. Like it's- She was just really attracted. He has issues issues. He has a number of issues. So many issues just extends into every possible issue you can possibly have. Mommy issues, daddy issues, third cousin twice removed issues.

Jeffrey is going to open this door for you and on the way out, he is going to lean into Calith. Again, I'm very sorry for that. I didn't have a choice. He's whispering this, like he is petrified that Tarmoc is going to overhear him apologizing. Uh, Calist will just like pat him on the shoulder, like not saying anything because obviously he doesn't want a conversation. She's learned, but just kind of like, yeah, it's cool. Leaving this place. Oh God, can we go take hot showers? That was a beautiful sentence. Leaving this place. Is it bad that I actually feel relieved, like me as a person?

Yeah. No, I feel the same way. Part of me is still there, guys. It's going to be there for a couple of years. Yeah. Eventually you are going to reach the base of the city of Uminero and I don't remember, I don't know if you remember the drill from before, but... Give up your weapons. Yep. Staffs count as weapons. Oh, in Uminero? Yeah. Yeah, I know. Yeah. I'm getting hot that I... Um, uh, so Duncan gives up his sword, um, and does he have, I guess he has to give up his guitar too. You guys are ready to enter the city? Yeah. Yep. Standing on this base, a blinding light is going to engulf the party and you will materialize within the city of Uminero.

They have sort of a, they know when people are entering the city and there's kind of a, I guess for lack of a better term, a welcome area. You've encountered this before. It's a lobby. It's sort of a lobby. And this, um, this shorter elf in some pretty nice robes. So, in Uminero, the more, the more elegant the garb you have, they have this color-coding system, but the nicer the crap you're wearing, the higher up you are in the mage power food chain. So you're guessing this guy is mid-tier. He's been here a while. Like, he knows some shit. And he's going to walk up to the party.

Can I help you? You want to look at Diana? Yeah. We need to speak with someone. We have very important business. Of what nature? Catastrophic. Of a magical nature. And he's kind of taking in the party and then he gets to Dirthag. That is not coming into the city. Oh, him? He's alright. Can I do a diplomacy check? Sure. I have this one, alright guys? Just don't. Okay, I'm going to use my encounter power. It is... Try the stick. I get to... Do you try the stick? I get to use triggers when I use diplomacy check. The effect is I make an intimidate check in the place of diplomacy.

Good, good, good. Is that bad? Sounds failsafe. Okay. There it is, skill. Bam! Add to 29. And what are you going to say? I wish that went better. He's just going to say, he's going to put up his hands and say, "I'm not going to be any trouble. I'm just here with them." He put his weapons in the box. It's not like he could really do anything. You're vouching for him. If anything goes wrong, you will all be held responsible. So be it. All of us? Is that just one of us? Yeah, okay, yeah, that's fine. We'll do that. Now what is it you wish to speak with us about? Diana's going to smile kind of a bit...

Just a bit coldly. Something of an important nature, as I said. He's starting to get the impression you don't want to talk to him about it. Like you're just being selective. Wherever would he get that idea from? Yeah. And he's going to give you a bit of a look. And he is going to... eventually he's fine. And he's going to come with me. And he's going to start to almost float away. Just very elegantly. Dang it, I almost hoped he would have said something. He got the hint. Like after the second time he asked, he's like, "Not you, bitch." I was so ready. So while everyone's kind of following, I kind of hold my hand back and look inward and go, "Hey, let's just go look around.

I don't think we need to be there for this." I want to cry on my neck and everyone's just going to keep going. Alright, let's go. And then I just go, "Dirth Egg! Dirth Egg!" And I just kind of motion to come with us. And head bob like... Alright, he's going to wander with them. Okay. So, Diana's going to follow this elf and he's going to lead you to an office. And there's going to be a much, much older... you're guessing half-elf gentleman sitting at this desk. This is one of our chief curators. I hope he will be able to help you with your problem. I'm sorry, he's just...

Incredibly passive-aggressive. Hi. Thank you. I'm sure that will do just fine. And he's going to smile, but at the same time squint his eyes like, "Eh." Just very... kind of dickish. Just, yeah. She's just going to smile back. Very passive-aggressive. And the guy sitting at the table is going to look up. And he's going to stand up from his desk. He seems to be much, much warmer. Much, much friendlier. My name's Elro. Can I help you with anything? Yes, there is something of a delicate and vital nature that I need to discuss with someone with quite a large amount of magical knowledge.

Probably an archmage. Unfortunately, I doubt that anyone else would be able to deal with my problem. And he's going to give this white smile. I do. You're talking to him. She's going to kind of smile back, but she just... There's a bit of distrust. She's just kind of a bit definitely wary in honor of her. Are they in kind of a private setting? Is there anyone else around? This is a private office. Yeah, he can close the door. This guy's high enough up that he has a private office. So she's going to take the cloak that she got from Duncan and just kind of, I guess, lay it out.

See if he recognizes it. Where did you find this? Off of the body of Loreweaver, whom I helped kill. And he's going to lean back against his desk a little bit. Just, like, that's a lot to take in. Can I ask where you encountered him? Outside of the Overwatch. We chased him down. It wasn't a pleasant process, as I'm sure you can imagine. How many when you were a party? What was the exact number, Jason? At the time? Six, I believe. No, five. Yeah, five. Five when Queen countered him before the battle was over. Quite sorry to hear that, though. I probably don't need to tell you that even that was lucky.

I'm no stranger to Archmages. I'm guessing you didn't come all this way just to hand us this cloak. She's going to smile kind of bitterly. Not exactly. He was doing work in the Overwatch that, well, I'm sure you can probably picture what nature that was. Some of it was he had on him, and that was why we chased him down. So she's going to kind of look at him and just... Do you know anything of magically created diseases? And he looks at him and comes across his face like, "Okay. I think I know where you're going with this. Did you find any of his research books, journals, a sample, anything?" She'll nod.

"Those would be very helpful." She'll take out the research journals and hand them over then. Do you happen to know how far he got in his research? Unfortunately, no. That's all we have. There were test subjects left over. Only three of them were still alive and mostly untouched. The others I burned. He's sort of idly thumbing through these books as you're speaking to him. Is there anything else? There were samples of the disease. Do you have any way to destroy that? It would take quite a bit of research, to be honest, before I would even attempt. But in time, yes.

At the very least, we can give them a safe place to be put away where no one can get a hold of them. She'll kind of nod and... Can I run an insight check on that? Sure, absolutely. Insights. Crap. Let's see. 23. You're not picking up anything false or malicious in what he's saying. It doesn't sound like he'd have any reason to lie to you. Okay. And you said he was half-elf? Half-elf, yeah. Okay. So she'll then take the samples and pass them over to him. And he is going to very carefully reach out and take them. I'm going to put these away. And I'm going to get to work on this.

I don't know if you plan on staying in the city for any extended amount of time. I'll let you know as soon as I can if I make any progress. This may take quite some time, though. That would be greatly appreciated. We will likely be staying for at least a night or as we tried to get here as soon as possible. As long as it's destroyed eventually, it's the best we can really hope for. I'll get to work on it then. I want to thank you for bringing this to me. You understand you may have seen many lives. She's going to kind of nod and wave to her horror and just like, yeah.

I know what his kind have done and have the potential to do. I saw what he did do to those he experimented on. Well, if this got out, that would be more than half of the population on the continent. Then I wish I could have destroyed it myself sooner, but it's far beyond my capabilities. There is something you can do. You wanted to do me a small favor. Hmm. A few floors down, you could visit my junior research assistant. He could give me a few books I need on the subject. It would save me the trip and I can get to reading these journals. It's not a dangerous task, I assure you.

He should be the only one down there. You wouldn't have a hard time finding him. Just tell him to hurry up and get me this list of books. He's going to scroll down this list and hand it over to Diana. She'll take that. Anything I can do to help. My name is Diana and thank you for helping with this. He is going to reach out his hand. Archmage Elroquide. She'll take it. Who are we catching up with? Are we catching up with the gang just bombing around Fucking Umineiro? Just getting into trouble? I'm just a god. Foul of Umineiro. Cut to Minidil theme. With his long bull nose, smells something delicious, and he is going door to door trying to find it.

I picture doors cracking and a giant black eye swirling around and the door closed. I like that they happen to casually wander into the equivalent of the Department of Mysteries. You got here just in time. Was that real? I don't even have a problem with that. The three fucking individuals that should not be walking unguided. It's a fucking minotaur, a dwarf, and an orc. Somebody just lost track of them real quick and they're just going and doing whatever. Can we walk into a bar please? I want to look back at Durothag. I'm going to get you some meat without hair on it.

How about we catch up with Diana going down into the stacks here to find this junior researcher. Are you sure you don't want to roleplay some of that knock at people's stores? They think it'd be pretty great. We may catch up with it in a bit. Okay. Finding the junior researcher. This is a huge library. It's just filled with dusty tomes and scrolls. It is everything you would think of when you think of a fantasy library. This place is a repository for books of any arcane knowledge. There are copies of all kinds of books here. There is a lone figure shuffling around.

Just by themselves down here. Okay, so if he's the only one around, she'll approach this lone figure. Hello? Is there someone there? Does someone need a tome? Yes, hello. I'm here with a missive from Archmage Elro. Ah, let me see. And a shaved headed tiefling with several piercings on each ear kind of emerges from the shelves. And comes to take your note. And when he comes out he kind of looks at you and says, "You're not familiar. My name is Raka." I'm Diana, unless I'm sure you can guess, I'm not exactly from around here. I came here with the rest of my party who are currently elsewhere in the city.

We've had business with the Archmages. Business with the Archmages? Must be something big. He unfolds the note and kind of looks over the tomes and he says, "Very big." You can say that. Are you part of a mercenary outfit or something? Said you had a party with you. I believe the correct term would be adventurers. Ah, adventurers. I used to be one of those myself. Don't suppose you've heard of Raka Kinreaver? Afraid not. Sorry, I'm new to the field. Oh, that's okay. Suppose I didn't get very big after all. Let me see if I can pluck some of these out. Hey, as long as you're here.

You know how it is in Ubinjiro. You don't get out much once you come in. Don't suppose I could grab a drink with you and yours. It would be nice to hear how things are going out there. I mean, we get information, of course, but to hear firsthand. If you have the time, of course, I don't mean to impose. We had a long and expedited journey here, so we'll likely be staying to nine. I don't see why we wouldn't have the time. Of course, we'll have to track down the rest of them first, but if luck is in our favor, then that shouldn't be too difficult of a challenge.

Wonderful. Tell you what, go to the Moonlit Willow. It's a little tavern. It kind of accommodates more visitors than locals. It's got a glowing wine. Kind of chintzy for mages, of course, but when you're a visitor, you know, enjoy the atmosphere. Floating city, but needed a tourist trap. Sounds good. I'll look forward to seeing you there. I get off in just over two hours. I'll see you there, Diana. She'll nod then. Oh, so do you know where I might be able to send a letter to someone? Of course. We have postmasters who manage communications going in and out of the city.

Here, let me write the address down for you. Jots it down for her. Okay, she'll nod. Thank you. That's very helpful, and I suppose I'll see you later. Looking forward to it. Turn to leave. So while Diana looks for the rest of the party, how about we catch up with the guys real quick? So, Yennward is still investigating the source of this smell, right? Yes, it smells delicious. Okay, he is going to happen upon a door where he thinks it's emanating from. He thinks. He's tracked it down. Now, the last four doors were wrong, but he's got a good feeling about this one.

So you're just going to kind of bang on this door, and a small elderly human is going to answer, "What?" "Oh, good God." He's trampled right away. He opens the door and he's looking waist deep at fucking Yennward. He just sort of hands his head. Okay, Duncan pushes his way through Yennward and, third fact, like going between their legs, and goes, "I got this. I got this, guys." So, my buddy here, and I point back to Yennward, he says he smells something good, and it might be coming from in there. So, we were thinking. We were sent to pick up snacks for a magic trick or something.

Shut up. Shut up. I'm doing good. Shut up. So, he's hungry. We're all hungry, and we thought maybe since you're so nice, we could have some of your food. I was making a stew. I suppose I can share it. My God, is that an orc? Oh, yeah, that's our friend Dirthag. Dirthag, come here. Say hi. He's going to wave to him and say, "Hi." He's going to repeat what he said before. He's going to say, "I dropped my weapons off before I got into the magic portal." This little elderly gent's going to turn around. Damn city's going to hell. He is going to fetch each one of you a big bowl of stew.

He has a pot of this stuff cooking over a fire. It is a large pot. But he's going to share with you. He's in hospitality and all that, so he'll actually share with you guys. Are these to go? He didn't invite us in here. I don't want you to be here. I'm giving you stew. Is that not enough? We can go. Thank you. He's just going to kind of grumble it. And then just sort of slam the door in your face. But again, free stew. Well, now we need a place to eat the stew. Inward's already drinking it out of the bowl. Are all the bowls the same size? Did they get... Oh yeah, these big bowls of stew.

They're almost salad bowls. He just grabbed the largest bowls he could find. Okay, so Duncan's walking around two-handed with this bowl stew. Just wandering around, huh? Yeah, we're just slurping and dripping it on the floor. Yeah, Durfath's just going to down it. So Duncan eats a little bit of it kind of as best he can and then just goes, "You know what guys? You can have mine too if you want it. I can barely carry it." So we don't fight over it? I thought you guys could split it. I didn't think you had to fight over it. Left Macs downstairs at a while. Is there something we could do?

Like a strength off or something like that? We could do a push-up contest or something? Are we seriously doing this? Are we doing this? Yeah, Inward's going to get down on the ground. Guys, you're too heavy. No, they're just doing push-ups and then you can... Kelsey's turn. Yeah, Kelsey's turn. This is the scene Diana's walking in on. So she's just going to kind of just take it all in for a second. Just not really... I'm not going to ask. Okay, so Duncan sees Diana walk up and kind of slinks over to her and goes, "Do you want to share the stew with me?" I suppose I wouldn't mind a bit.

That's a lot. Where did you... No, never mind. You didn't get into any trouble, did you? Oh, no, no, no. There was a very nice man. Do we have anywhere that we could eat this? I don't... They just drank theirs. Let's just say they ate the stew and we... Inward's going to notice. They're almost done. Inward's going to look up and he's going to just jump up and run over. He didn't even do any push-ups! I met an archmage and he took the disease and the research. He said it might take a while, but they'll contact us if they find anything. And also it'll be stored safely until they do.

And also his research assistant wanted to meet us for drinks later. We have to talk to some more search assistant? You don't turn down an opportunity to weasel information out of someone in a numero. Can Raka already be in there? He's sitting there, he's all excited to meet people, he's got a round on the table. God. He's ready to get all these people talking. So desperate. He's like a pulse of desperation, I'm sorry. So we're picking up us walking into the bar and Raka sitting at a table with drinks already ordered for us, right? That's where we're starting, I guess?

Yes. Okay, so as we're walking into the bar, I'll be talking to Dirthag and it'll be like mid-conversation. And I'm very interested in teaching him everything, so I go... So then I came back to life after I died. And I found a guitar and then I played music for the city and then I jumped on a horse. And then right then, as he says that, he notices Raka. Now do I have to do a perception check or something? Or do we know? Yeah, any of you who would know walk in the door and Malkus is sitting at the table with a round of drinks for people. Granted, shaved head and multiple piercings, Malkus, but it's most assuredly Malkus.

Is that okay, Jason? Just no? Oh yeah. And as much as a bright red skinned tiefling can go pale, you see Malkus get a little less red. Duncan nudges Yennward and says, "That's Malkus, right? Like for real, Malkus?" Yennward's gonna take a step back and drink this all in and he's gonna look at Diana. And then he's gonna look at Raka and he's gonna grab Diana and usher her over to the table. And he's gonna pick Malkus up and stand him next to her. And he's gonna rub his chin quizzically. Oh yes, yes. And then we're gonna motion Duncan over. The girl isn't Malkus, but that's...

I'm gonna push her away from the scene. I'm really almost sure that that's Malkus. Yes, I am Malkus, dammit! Malkus! Diana, this is Malkus for real! This is Malkus! Diana's eyes are gonna go a bit wide and she looks at him like does like a second glance over his double teeth. Wait, by the way, I just want to point out, I love the fact right now that that whole time we're doing that Diana thinks it's just another one of our things. It's easier not to question it. It's over faster and you can move on. And then all of a sudden it's just like, "Oh wait, this is Malkus." Oh, okay.

And Malkus looks at Diana and says, "So these are your adventurers?" Yes. Ugh. He rubs his hands down his face and like turns away. Malkus! Um... Dude, where have you been? You just totally left us. Where's your hair? Where's you? And when he hears that he turns around and he gets closer into all of them and he's like, "I was trying to keep a low profile as Raka Kinreaker." And you came along. It is a rural tiefling name, but it is still a tiefling name. Diana's gonna cross her arms and raise an eyebrow at him. Malkus, um... So you're alive, right? You're not dead, right?

Like you didn't die and then come back or anything? You've been alive? Yes, Duncan. I am alive. I kind of wish I were dead. Um, guess what? First off, I'm a little mad at you because you left, but I have to tell you, Ironhide's dead. He just kind of, uh... Malkus, um, kind of just like, he kind of straightens his back a little bit and kind of like shifts his eyes left and right. And he goes, "I suppose you would be, after what happened." Hmph! No, no, no, no. You didn't kill him. Oh? [Laughter] Tell him, Yinward. Well, alright. He killed Thoril. And then that made me mad.

And so I threw him out a window. After I killed Carter. So, so Carter is... he's dead. Oh yeah. And the Overwatch is completely overthrown. [Laughter] And then... then it was worth it. You still shouldn't have left us. [Sigh] Can we leave a note? Wait, you're... you're not here to... bring me in, or... Oh. Yeah. We were sure there would be drinks. There are. There actually are on the table. Assuming you're not planning to give me all of this exposition and then like clap me in shackles and drag me back to the other side of the continent, yes, you can have these drinks.

Wait, is there still a... is there still a bounty out for you? I don't know. Are you looking for me? [Laughter] I just thought that when... when we killed Carter that the... that it was done. There's no bounty anymore. Is there still a bounty? The fem... the... the child leader of Winterhaven was the one who had the bounty out, correct? He was incapacitated the last we heard of him. Strahd, it happened. And then Malchus kind of like looks into their eyes and see... and it's like trying to read their expressions when she mentions the bounty. [Laughter] Look, we won't take you in and get the money if you say you're sorry.

And Malchus looks at Yennward. Yeah, I promise not to do it again. I... I promise. I... I... I have to admit I didn't think I would run into any of you again on such friendly terms. I don't care that you killed all those people or the... I don't care that you killed the War Forge because we needed to kill the War Forge. We were trying to kill him anyway. But you just left and didn't say goodbye or anything and you still haven't said you're sorry. Dirk. I'm... can I say I'm sorry but also that it needed to be done? Duncan looks at Yennward. Is that okay? Is that enough?

Yeah. How much... let's sit. Come on. Malchus takes a seat. Duncan will sit. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Oh, by the way, Malchus, this is Diana, our friend. She's been traveling with us. It's like looking in a mirror, ain't it? You two might fall in love. Be careful. And this is our orc, Durrtheg. You have a kept orc? He's very... No, I'm with them. Oh, you're like, oh, you're another one like the rest of us. Yeah, he's gonna go shake his hand. Malchus will shake Durrtheg's hand. And he's gonna say, "What's a War Forge?" They're like robots. Duncan says, "Yes, he's with us." Wink.

Gives him a little wink. Well, let's start here. How much do you all know of exactly why I went away and had to go away? Um, 'cause you killed the War Forge and then I guess you didn't like us anymore, so you left? I suppose in a manner of speaking I was concerned that you wouldn't like me. I left like that, Duncan, because I knew that if what I had done had been discovered, the entire operation would have been paralyzed, trying to figure out the repercussions and the responsibilities for what had happened. The entire operation almost was paralyzed because of your departure.

How do you mean? You were apparently the leader of the armies, or at least someone they looked to for orders, and without you it almost fell apart. Do you know about Bree? I heard she had passed away. I was hoping at some point to be able to make it to her grave to pay my respects, but unfortunately as much as people have strong opinions about what I did, I probably can't afford to go close at the moment. Um, she's not dead. I'm sorry? She's... Well, she's... She's alive? They brought her back to life. Then it did all work out. It worked! That sounded like the most sinister...

No! Yeah, it's all worked out. It was... I thought she hadn't made it, and it was the one thing, more than anything, that I regretted about leaving. Talia's still dead. Talia's dead. Ian's dead. Ian's dead, so that's good. But Talia's dead, and Thoril's dead. Thoril died. He said that earlier. J'konas is missing. How did Thoril die? Ironhide killed him. That's why he killed Ironhide. He stabbed him right in the back. After Thoril summoned Strahd, or participated in the summoning of Strahd. You don't make a mistake. Malchus is just kind of looking down at the table, and he says, "I guess there's perhaps a grave I'll have to visit at some point after all." His body was kind of left out in the middle of the woods, but the evergreen should do just fine.

Wasn't a particularly harsh loss to our team. She doesn't like humans. She doesn't like humans at all. I don't like lots of people, but Thoril fought by my side. He deserves more respect than that, and he kind of glares at Diana. Even he took responsibility for what he did with the dragon. She does this. *laughs* You'll learn to like it. It gets charming after a while. Wouldn't put money on it. Um, alright. Well, for the time being, that issue can't be approached. Um, so, yes. After I did what I did, I went into hiding here. I knew it was separate and far away from anyone who'd been very directly affected by my actions.

So, I figured it would be safe if perhaps a little too quiet. But, a way to live things out. Even if only until the heat died down. Well, people aren't really talking about you all that much anymore. Like, we are, but I don't think we've heard anybody else really bring you up recently. That's good, but you are on the far side of the continent. But what I would give to touch base with Bree at some point, at the very least. You could at least send a letter. Well, I couldn't. It's the kind of thing that doesn't go very well when one is in hiding and trying to remain scarce.

Don't want to sign your name on things. Look, it's not as though I didn't want to contact people, but I thought someone was going to have my head. So, I left. What are you going to do now? Well, I don't know. It's rather heartening that you're not here to assassinate me or drag me before a jury. I mean, like, we've got room in our group if you want to... You seriously want me back? You still feel you can trust me after what I've done? You're a friend. You said you're sorry, and you said you won't do it again. And Malchus picks up one of the drinks and he holds it up and he says, "To friends, then." To friends.

To friends. I look at Diana with a big smile on my face. To friends. Everyone roll a perception check for me. Everyone except Merrick... ...is going to hear this frantic stomping, and it is... it's on the second floor, and it's sort of rapidly moving around. And then you're going to hear it walk downstairs and then kind of stomp down the hallway, and you're going to see Valus come into view, and he is frantically looking for something. Are we in a house at this point? Yes, you guys are in the house. Okay. Una will just, like, swagger and be like... stretching all that shit, like, "Oh, just got off the fucking horse." Just kind of pissed that, like, you know, her trip didn't go very well.

Just be like, "Did you lose your fucking bear trap, bear trap?" He is going to just snap... just snap his glance right over to Una. I can't find Jadzia. You know, you don't have to, like, go to the fucking bathroom with her. Like, she can do things on her own. She's a grown woman. He's going to stomp up Una. I haven't been able to find her in two hours. I think she left without us. So, Una's going to realize that, like, he looks a lot more serious than she originally, like, perceived, and the fact that he hasn't seen Jadzia in two hours is a little weird.

Like, she's going to start kind of, like, freaking out a little bit. Like, "Well, she goes off on her own occasionally. That's not... where would she... she wouldn't go and do that without us. She's probably just on her own reading or something. Have you checked everywhere?" Merrick's going to just start frantically just going... just leaving the room trying to search. Okay. Kaluna's going to also go to search, but kind of, like, rubbing their eyes, because they didn't get any sleep last night, so I just wanted sleep. You said you'd get back to the house in the middle of the night?

I'm going to go look in this bed, under the covers. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. I'm going to look behind my eyelids, guys. Valus is going to sort of start to cut Una off. "I've checked every room in this house. I can't find her." So Una's going to be, like, definitely freaked out, like, because she, you know, automatically assumes, like, Jadzia's gone off to do this demon thing without them, which is freaking her out, but she's also trying to, like, stay calm and not... not go the Valus route. So, say, maybe she went for a walk. You spend all your time with her.

Maybe it's good that you haven't been able to find her for a couple hours. Maybe she just wants some fucking time alone. Okay? Calm the fuck down. We'll look for her. She'll have to turn up in the morning, I'm sure. Why don't you just chill the fuck out for a little bit? She wouldn't walk on the streets of Brightport alone. I've told her enough about this city to know that. She's strong. She doesn't need you to fucking protect her all the time. She can do what she wants. Valus is going to glance down for a minute. And then he's going to slowly look up at Una.

Why do I suddenly get the feeling that you told her to go tackle this demon nonsense by herself? Because you are a paranoid fuck. I would never tell her to do that. What the fuck is wrong with you? Like you wouldn't try to fight a dragon by yourself? That's me! I would never put Jadzia in danger. Ever. You fucking know that. Don't you say that shit to me. He is going to close what little gap remains between the two of you. I think you're lying. Well, I think you're a fucker. And you smother her and you're a piece of shit. He's fucking irate and just worried. You can kind of see his arm is shaking where he's got a fist clenched.

Oh, okay. That's enough. You want to fucking hit me? Hit me, bitch. Let's go. Let's fucking do this. I'm not a liar. You're paranoid and you're shitty and you're freaking out over nothing. This is not nothing. She has no soul. If anything happens to her, she's gone for good. And the fact that you're being so goddamn cavalier about this is unsettling. If you cared about her half as much as you think you do, then you'd be helping me look for her. I'm just going to like look at him and think her mouth open like, what the fuck? Like she can't even believe that he's saying what he is.

I should say you may spend every fucking second of your day ogling Jadzia, but you don't know fucking anything about caring for her. And then she'll just pull back her fist and just fucking clock him as hard as she can. Do me a favor, roll an athletics check. OK. Roll 13. It's not too bad. He's giant. Yeah, it's not that it's not going to hit him. This is how much damage that's going to do. OK. So that is going to, that's going to catch him right in the cheek. And he is going to react suddenly and violently. He is going to try and shove Una back against the wall and then advance on her.

So let's see what... 10. OK. That would be against Una's like fort. So that's going to shove, that's going to shove Una back some, but it's not going to do. It's not going to give the, it's not going to do what he wants it to do. It's not going to shove her back enough to get her really in a corner. It's just going to, it's just going to be a reactionary like shove her back. OK. She's going to grab his shoulders and knee him as hard as she can in the groin. Oh my God. Can Merrick, can Merrick, can Merrick... Have they caused a ruckus yet? Yeah. I would give it another, I would give it another turn or two.

All right. That would be enough, enough. Now we're going to start rolling attacks because that is an attack. I feel like this shouldn't be AC. I feel like it should all be like, I don't know, against like fortitude or some shit, but whatever. Kind of. Yeah. Emotional AC? Yeah. I mean... Emotional AC? See? Valus is like two. Yes, because it is very mature. Hey, she's more, she's more emotionally sturdy than Valus. Really? Sorry. Sorry. I'm sorry. I thought I was muted. I apologize. I don't think, I don't think mature, but like, I feel like, I feel like more shit gets under Valus's skin.

No, maybe not. OK. It's, I'd say they're, they're more alike than either one of them would fucking let on. So yeah, that's going to kind of glance off of his armor and we should be rolling against like fortitude here in a bit. Yeah. So yeah, that's gonna, that's gonna, that's gonna miss, that's gonna miss Valus. And he is just going to try and throw a punch directly into Una's head. Just, just clock her in the head if he can. That's a crit miss. So Valus is going to swing wide and put his fist into a wall. Is his hand like stuck in the wall a little bit? For a second, yeah.

OK. During that time, can I try and bring my hands, like both hands down on his wrist? Oh, God. OK. Yeah, that's a fortitude attack. I don't care what. We're just, just roll an attack and we'll target fortitude. Oh, right. Thirty-four. Thirty-four? Oh, fuck. Ended up breaking his arm. Jadzia, I broke your boyfriend. I'm sorry we were fighting about you. So, OK, that is ten damage. Jesus. OK. Valus is going to pull his hand back reflexively out of the wall and try and drive his foot into Una's chest to kick her back into the corner. This is against fortitude. Thirty-two.

I don't hit anything, so that works. OK. Thirteen damage and Una is shoved back into this corner. At this point, they have made plenty of noise. Kaluna, Fae, and Merrick. Thank God. Kaluna will summon a thing between them, just very much with a cut-that-shit-out look on their face, like, "Oh, God, I am so tired. I am so sick of everyone's shit. Stop." What would our... what would you say Una's reaction is to just ignore Kaluna? Just use the opportunity to attack? Yeah, she'd probably, like, hold her hand out and be like, "Don't get involved. This is between us.

This has been a long time coming." That's basically Kaluna's reaction. Just, "Ugh." 'Cause, you know, they already pulled this, so it's like they can't get in the way because that would be really hypocritical, but at the same time, so tired. So you're going to attack Vallis's knees. Yes. Do me a favor. Roll an attack. Is that still fortitude? Yeah, that'll hit. That's fine. That's way fine. All right, so... yeah. Okay, so 11 damage. Vallis is going to just sort of kind of scream out in agony after you strike his knee, and he's going to sink down to the bad knee after you've hit it.

Vallis is going to throw his fist up in the air towards Una's chin and just try and uppercut the shit out of her. [laughs] So this would be... that'll hit. 16 damage to Una. And I would imagine that would have the same effect, where it would... Just fuck. Yeah, that would kind of rock her as well, so... So, everyone, do me a favor and roll a perception check really quickly. If I don't perception anything, I'm not going to be surprised. Yeah, no, this is not... 17, actually, that's not bad. The pet's just being clocked in the fucking draw. 17. I would add a couple to that roll, because I'm pretty sure I have a couple higher than my actual perception.

Vallis rolled a 12. That's not a shock. Let's see here. Kaluna is going to spot... there's a letter that's fallen out of Vallis's... at some point during the fight, this has fallen out of one of his pockets. And this appears to be sealed, and it's just sort of spilled in between the two of them going at it. Neither one of them have seemed to have noticed it, and they are still trying to murder each other. Maric... wait a second, let me see here. Hold on a second. 17 would actually notice that too, so Maric and Una would notice the letter. I'm sorry. Cool.

Good, because I was not about to get in the middle of that. Yeah, hell no. I've been stabbed here. I'm good. Yeah. Maric... sorry. Maric doesn't give a shit about the letter right now at all. Like, he's... this is enough of this bullshit. Can Maric do something? Sure. He's gonna... no shit, use a daily. He's gonna use Dismissal, which is gonna... he's actually going to do this on Una. It's gonna make her... just like he did with Marish back in the alley long ago, he's gonna make her disappear into an interplanar prison for a turn. Wow. Yeah. She sees it. He's just stopping this.

It doesn't hurt her, it just stops it. He just fucking casts Dismissal. Una pops out of existence, like in the middle of whatever she's about to hit or throw or whatever. And presumably it's gonna get Valus's attention. And Maric's just gonna look at Valus and say "I don't see her anywhere." Like, he's just gonna get back to the point. Ah, I like it. I like it. So yeah, at that, Valus is going to... Like she's gone. Yeah, like she's just gone. And that sort of snaps him out of what he was doing. And still kind of holding his wrist, he's sort of gonna transition from being furious to worried again.

And he doesn't really give a shit where Una went. She's just not here. And that's all that matters at the moment. Can I come back? The point that Maric is trying to do here is be like "Valus, cut it out. I don't see her." And presumably Maric didn't see Jedzia anywhere, I'm assuming. Um, no. And that's the point. He's just like "I didn't see her. I'm worried. I get it. If you're worried, then I'm worried." Kaluna will sort of hesitantly, but at the same time sort of like "Fuck this shit." Walk over and pick up the letter and hand it to Valus. And then sort of look at him kind of like "Do you want me to fix the wrist thing?" "I don't know." But mostly just take the letter.

I don't know what it is, but take it. Valus is gonna take this. Yeah, I would say Una's backfired now. Give it a few seconds. I would imagine that in the time it took to... Maric makes some tea. Una has to save. Once you've calmed down, you can come back in. You can come back to this dimension, young lady. Can I make part of Una already? Like just her head? Just her head. Do you know why I sent you to another dimension? What is the other dimension like? Is it just like... nothing? Yeah, I wondered if it was like nothingness, because that might be a little traumatic.

I picture the void. I picture just a gaping, yawning void. Nothing. Una will flash back into existence like *gasp* Like, freaking out. Totally not okay with just revisiting her death. Like pale, shaking, fucking terrified, wide eyes, you know, super... That, like, if you wanted to end combat and take away all fighting will, that is primo stuff. Like, she doesn't want to do anything. Valus is gonna give a glance over to her, almost a look of concern, like, "What the fuck is wrong with you?" Like, she will just slowly sink down to the floor like, "Oh, God." Merrick's not trying to be a jerk.

He's not like being an asshole and like, "I don't give a shit." He's just like, "Stop it, you guys. Una, I'm sorry. Look, Valus, I didn't see her. Let's get back to the point here." Right. "She's not anywhere. What are we gonna do?" So this letter is addressed to Valus. And he's gonna open it up and start to... he's gonna start to take a look at it. And a look's gonna cross his face as he's reading it silently. And then he's gonna look down at Una. And he's gonna start to walk away and continue to read the letter to himself. She will follow him. Merrick's right behind.

No way. No way. Like, she just wants to know. Like, if you looked over her, obviously it has something to do with her. So, like, she'll follow. Like, "What's going on?" Yeah, even still, Merrick's ready for other dailies. He doesn't care. Kalluna will trail behind you just because, like... They will follow. They might need me. No, no, no, no. Like, it's obvious Una's not gonna fight anymore. Like, she's done with that. She's too freaked out. Even still following just for carefulness. That's all. Seriously. Just, you know, like, "Okay, I get it, but I don't want Valus to turn around and, like, punch her in the face and start her to get up again or something." Because, I mean, Merrick doesn't know what's going on.

So, it's just, "Okay, I'm coming with you. Where are you going?" You just watch these two beat the shit out of each other. That's... yeah. Valus is gonna get real quiet. She left. Where did she go? Please tell me she didn't go after the demon. She went after the demon. And he's still reading over the letter. It has nothing to do with you. It's not quite admitting he was wrong, but he's walking... he's sort of walking away with it. Una's gonna, like, run after him, like, "Hey, please give me that letter. I know it's addressed to you, but we have to know, okay?

You're not the only one who cares about her." And he's gonna hand the letter over to Una. Like, very reluctantly, but he's gonna... yeah, he's gonna hand it over to her. Okay. Una, like, lands over the letter, see what it contains, and then be like, "You need to read this out loud. Can't date back to Valus." And he's gonna kind of stare at her. And you can tell what the stare means, like, "I don't want to do that. That's not something I want to do." "You need to read this out loud." And he's gonna look... he's gonna look over the party. And he's... it's kind of a... he's gonna give this low grumble, like, just... this is not something he wants to do.

And he's gonna take... he's gonna take the letter, and he's gonna start to kind of very reluctantly read it. "Dear Valus, I considered writing a letter to the entire group, but I did not believe I could have explained my choice to them. V, Kalluna, and Meriker, as of yet still unaware of my predicament, and that I would rather they continue not knowing. I would not accept any of my excuses, and though I do not believe you will either, I do know you will want to chase me. I cannot imagine anything could stop you, except perhaps me begging you to stay that impulse.

I watched as you were pierced by a thousand anchors the last time I attempted dark magic. Though I speak with a demon, it will be incredibly dangerous. Even the act of summoning it will much more... will be much more gruesome act than blood magic used to bound that warforged to a new body. I cannot bear to let you risk your life for mine again. I made the deal alone. I must settle it alone." And he's gonna... he's gonna... it looks like he's gonna try and stop... just stop reading. He's just... like he knows where this is going and he doesn't want to keep reading it.

He's gonna kind of glance back up to Una. Just keep reading. "I will not entertain the idea that I'm certain of return. I would not insult your intelligence by claiming so. You are quiet but clever. There is a good chance I will not make it back. That demon will have me and my soul for eternity. That is what unveils. I imagine that you will find it very hard to forgive me for this decision. You may curse me for the rest of your days, but you will have days. Though imagining you living on, forgetting me, is more painful than imagining my own death, it is still better than letting you walk into darkness beside me if there is a chance you would not be able to come back into the light.

Demons are greedy, selfish, and cruel creatures. I will not feed its hunger with my friends' lives, much less yours. However, if I do return, then we can finally put an end to this journey, the way we'd only dared whisper about late at night, when we can hide from the reality of our lives and the darkness of our tent. You can tend the farm. I will teach the town's children. Maybe we can have some of our own. Our lives may not be filled with valor and adventures, but will also no longer be plagued with fear and death. Each night we will sleep in a bed and remember when we would sleep in the cold forest floor.

While I burn the dinners, you will think with a smirk of other fires I once set, though you will be too polite to mention it. Should you injure yourself on farm equipment, I will tend to your wounds, thanking every god and goddess I am aware of that it was not the edge of a blade swung during battle that cut you. And if one day our children ask, in their naivete, to check under their beds for monsters, we will both be relieved to know the real monsters are finally out of reach. That dream of our future is what steals my resolve and gives me the courage to face my demon.

Please do not come after me. I beg you. I would rather die than see your life traded for my own and not be able to live my dreams that I have only whispered. Yours forever, Jatzia. And he's going to start to look away from this and then glance back at it. P.S. Tell Una I'm sorry. I knew she wanted to come as well, which is why she does not yet know I left. The two of you are very much alike. And he's going to sort of grimace at that. Una will also grimace at that. I think that must be why you are so often feuding. Try to look out for one another, should I not return.

Valus is going to have tears in his eyes and he's going to look to the party. You have to help me get her back. Una will wholeheartedly nod and just position her armor back in place from being kicked in the chest and clocked in the jaw. He's still very much nursing that wrist. I'm proud of that. And just kind of like straighten herself up and say, what do we know? Where is she? How do we find her? Alright, pressing on to this cabin. About two and a half hours later, you are going to come up to a portion of the swamp where it's very, very dim. It's quite dark.

And there are these little trails scattered. It's the same thing. Surrounded by water. This appears to be a little clearer than those gelatinous pools that basically tried to eat Breland earlier. And you're going to see these little spider web trails that break along. You can march single file through them and you don't have to trudge through any of the swampy areas itself. And you're going to see a rickety shack in the middle of all this. You're going to see where there are lanterns lit inside and it almost looks homey compared to the rest of the area around it.

And do me a favor, roll perception. So let's see here. Corey, Dagon, Actor Ronis, and Erolove are all going to notice the same thing all at once. There is nothing surrounding this cabin. You don't hear birds, frogs, insects, anything. You don't hear anything. There appears to be no living creatures anywhere in the vicinity. I don't like this at all. Corey's going to look towards Dagon since he's the only one who's ever been here before to see if this is the norm, I guess. Yeah, everyone be on guard. She's definitely here. Are we ready for this? You guys sound ready.

I am ready. If you guys don't start walking, I will. Do we know she's a blood mage and do I know anything about blood magic, Jason? You do and you do. Alright. I don't like it. Okay, I guess we'll start to walk up to the steps and knock on the door. I don't really know what else to do. We don't have children with us. We should be fun. Yeah. I'm probably the closest thing, right? Oh shit, Dagon. I guess I'll go knock on the door. Okay, Dagon is going to knock on this door and it's just going to swing wide open, this slow creek. And just beyond the front door, you're going to hear the gentle creaking of a rocking chair.

And you're going to see the same woman that you saw decades ago. And the first thing that you notice is she looks identical to the last day you saw her. She has not aged one second. Dagon's going to swallow hard. I imagine he's probably sweating at this point. Then he'll say, "My lady of the swamp, I have returned seeking your wisdom and guidance." She's going to stand up and close the gap between you. And she's going to scoop your hands up into hers. Very welcoming. This very warm smile. And she's going to lean up and give Dagon a kiss on the cheek. And she's going to look, she's going to sort of stare past Dagon and look out onto the party on the front porch.

And then look back to Dagon. You look terrible. Why don't you come inside? And she's going to clear the doorway and motion for you to come in. Dagon, probably still trembling, is just going to say thank you and I guess give a nod to the others and walk inside. Braelyn will follow. And then Rory will hold the door open as everyone enters and enter last. I think I'll stay outside for just a moment. You can go inside. Craig's going to follow you guys in. Air level glance to the party like, "Oh shit." And then walk in when she sees everyone else doing it. What does the witch look like?

I don't know if you've ever described her on the show. In the old episodes, did you? No, I don't think I did actually. She's pretty young looking actually. Long dark hair. Not dressed, definitely not dressed in a way that someone who's a survivalist would be dressed. Just sort of a long flowing dress but not elegant or anything like that. Just, it's almost plain. But, again, has not aged a day since the last time that Dagon saw her. She's going to motion for everyone to take a seat and there's sort of a long bench inside. There's also the chairs now free.

She's not sitting in it and she sort of just motions to the party to have a seat if they want to. Lila will go sit down. We're all totally close to her seat. Anybody else? Air level stay standing. She's going to look at Dagon. Well, you've went to a lot of trouble to come here so why don't we cut to the chase. What is it that you need? Well, first, while it seems we were slightly careless and a few of us got bitten by the rats, we're hoping maybe you could do something about that. But, more importantly, my friend here, the Goliath, is looking to have her lithoderms read.

At that, Corey's going to sort of make eye contact with the witch if possible. So, motioning around the party, it's not hard to see who was bitten by the rats. You've broken out into a pretty thick sweat. It's pretty easy to tell. And while you're speaking, the witch is going to sort of drift over to Braylin and kind of cradle his face in her hand and then just sort of squeeze his mouth a little bit and then just sort of do that thing where you're looking at someone's face back and forth. She's sort of looking him over. I'm good. I think Braylin will just be like, "Hi." She's not paying any attention to you specifically, just how far along you are disease-wise.

Still very much paying attention to Dagon and then Corey when Dagon mentions her. She's not going to react at all to the fact that Corey is a Goliath. And she's going to break away from Braylin and she's going to wander over to a table and start to grind a few different herbs together. Sort of a more pestle type of situation. And as she's doing this, she's going to be speaking obviously to Dagon but just sort of cast almost over her shoulder. You sure have humbled since the last time we spoke. Well, you did teach me a valuable lesson that day. One I definitely took to heart and have practiced every day since.

Did you know that for a short time, you were the only one of your kind left? Until very recently, actually. I'd heard rumors but I didn't think it was true. Who do you speak of? There was a girl and she's going to, as she's finishing up her sentence, she's going to finish up what she's doing. And she is going to turn to the members of you who have been bitten by the rats. And she's going to sort of grab each one of your hands and she's going to start to shake out this powder. And after each one of you, she's going to go down the line. Swallow that. First, Brelyn, then Dagon, then Erolove.

Brelyn's going to sniff the powder, just make sure it's not anything crazy, it doesn't stink. And then make a really weird face and he's going to mouth out like, "Ah, yucky." And then he's going to swallow it. And then he's going to take a horrible look to Brelyn and Dagon and then shrug and then take it. Hmm. Well, I guess it ought to be on stop you guys now. I was going to take it first, but I guess I'll kind of look at you both for any adverse reaction and then... Right? There is no no. That's a true leader. That is not a leaderly thing to do. The fortune favors the bold and we're sick.

What was that roll? Phantom roll, phantom roll. Dagon will eat it. Eat it too. OK. She is going to notice. She's going to notice that you were glancing over to your teammates before you just downed it. And she's she's going to give this really just kind of a wise ass smile. You do know that I don't need to poison you in order to kill you, right? Of course I do. Please forgive my suspicion. I did nearly die here the last time I was around. She is going to she's going to sort of dump the bull back on the table. And walk up to walk up to Corey and Corey towers over this woman.

Almost unsettlingly so. The witch is only around like five, six. So Corey is eight feet tall. So that is a large discrepancy. And this woman is walking up to Corey with a confidence of someone who does not fear her at all. And she's sort of walking circles around Corey. Just just examining these lithoderms on her body and just just again, just sort of taking her in. Corey is sort of like as she's circling her, she's really nervous and standing stone still, sort of darting her eyes back and forth to the group. Is this normal? Like, is this OK? I'm guessing no one in the party is going to stop her.

No, Layla was waiting to see if she'd lay a hand on her, but she stands up and grabs her weapon and puts her hand on it. Not takes it out, just kind of puts her hand on it. Craig is going to glance over to Layla at this and sort of put his put the hand on the hilt of his sword. Just not draw it, not do anything. And the witch is like just still kind of walking around Corey. They're going to kind of look over at Craig and Layla and just be like, don't do that. Layla will ignore him completely. OK. The witch is going to look up to Corey. I take it no one in your tribe could read these?

Corey is just going to nod nervously. Do you know why that is? She's going to think for a second and say no. They merely told me I was a bad omen, that my lithoderms could not be read, and I was cast off my island. She is going to turn to the rest of the party and walk away from Corey. I really don't think you're going to want to hear what I have to give you. Maybe you should all just leave. Corey is going to like dart her head at Dagon and not say anything like they came all this way. Layla will speak up and go, you know, we didn't just travel through this terrifyingly dangerous forest for you to turn us away.

Seeing as how none of you are leaving, the witch is going to look over to Dagon. You do know I don't offer my services for free, right? Of course, my lady. What would you request in payment? You remember when I told you that you're not the only one of your kind? Yes. And she's going to close the gap between you two. You understand how rare scions are. Yes. And he's definitely starting to get suspicious now, but holding back any any emotion, of course. Well, I've been looking for one in particular for a very long time. I'd like you to find her for me and bring her here.

For what purpose? You don't really need to know that, do you? And she... where her expression was pretty warm and friendly up until now, it's it's as she's speaking, it's growing sterner and sterner. Dagon's going to look at Corey. What do you say? Do you want to know? Do you want to know what your lithoderm mean? Because it sounds like it's going to be at the cost of another. Corey is in a state of mind where she is so close. She's going to sort of like internalize the question and then say, I have waited my whole life to find out what my purpose in this world is.

Wondering and and thinking that I'm some monster. I need to know, Dagon. I have to. Dagon will sort of look at everyone as he's turning back to the witch and say, Very well. It will be done. She's going to look very pleased at that. A wide smile is going to cross her face. And she's going to reach up and sort of pat Dagon on the cheek. Not really disrespectfully necessarily, but more of like a good boy type of motion. And she is going to walk up to Corey again. Do you believe in the gods, Corey? I believe in no specific god, no. Your tribe was right to cast you out.

Do you know why that is? The second she says that Corey's face is just going to sort of drop in confusion. And she's just going to slowly shake her head no. But she's like staring at the floor, trying to piece it together with what she knows. Because she can't think of any logical reason. And she again is going to start to trace some of your lithoderms. They can't read these because you don't belong with them. If you believe in such things as gods and prophecies and all of that, you're a blood omen. You're going to be responsible for the death of everything you've ever loved.

And anyone that is foolish enough to remain in contact with you. And she's sort of tracing these. And she's going to break eye contact from that and look right into Corey's eyes. As she's giving this news to her. Do you understand what I'm telling you? Corey is just sort of frozen. I think she would still be staring at the floor and her bottom lip is going to start to tremble a little bit. And as her eyes sort of well up with tears, she's going to give a grimacing, "You're lying." And she is going to step just a little bit closer to Corey. And reach her right hand up and sort of cradle Corey's chin.

Do you really think that I'm lying to you right now? I think then Corey would make eye contact with the witch. And she would start to cry. But not say anything. Layla will step forward and look straight at the witch and go, "Enough of this. Why are you trying to scare her? We said we'd get you what you want." I was simply asked to tell her what her lithoderm's meant. I didn't promise to console her about it. But you're not making it any better. And she's going to break away from Corey and just sort of change positions and face Layla. She doesn't have to believe what I tell her.

The problem is not whether she believes you or not. You need to... She's going to step forward just a little bit and you can tell her tone is stiffening. "Young lady, I don't need to do anything." Dagon's going to step in. Look at Layla. Layla, stand down. "I don't need you to fight my battles. I am in no way telling you what you need to do. Consider this me asking you to leave her alone, please." Layla, you have no idea what you're dealing with here. "I'm not trying to fight her. I'm not threatening her. I'm asking her to leave my friend alone. This is obviously a big deal for her." In the middle of your argument, I think Corey is just going to sort of like...

Through her tears, because she doesn't cry often. Through her tears, she's sort of piecing everything together in her head of her time on the mainland. And what has happened to her and people she's been in contact with. And just sort of aggravatingly ask, "You're saying everything I touch dies?" In sort of a questioningly manner. Like, she's asking, she wants clarification, she's confused. "I'm saying that your very presence endangers everyone in this room." And the way she's describing it is almost with a smile on her face. Like, she's almost enjoying the fact that she's giving you this information.

And she is going to, uh, she's going to stop looking at Layla and look back to Corey. Do you understand how rare you are? "Until this moment, I thought I was like everyone else, like a speck." She is going to sidle right up to Corey. And again, use her hands and sort of place them on either one of her cheeks. And really just cradle her face. "My dear, you are so much more important than a speck. One day, you're going to be very important indeed." And she's going to lock eyes with you for a while. And then just as quickly, she is going to let go of your face and turn around.

And sort of address Dagon. That is, of course, if you believe in such things. And she is going to return to her chair and sit down. "Corey's doing that thing where, um, when she was touching her face, she's doing that thing where you're like stiffening your jaw to keep it from trembling. Because pretty much all of her extremities are trembling at this point. She's broken. And she's just going to slowly leave where she was. Because I assume she was sort of in the center of the room. And she's just going to slowly sort of fade into the background. She doesn't want to talk about it anymore.

She's going to go check on actor Ona's outside." So she's left the, she's left the shack? Yeah. Dagon, I'll turn to the witch. Is there nothing we can do for her? To rid her of this curse? This spell? Whatever it is? She's, she's going to look at Dagon almost, almost like puzzled. Curse? I never said anything about a curse. It's a blessing, if anything. Do you really think she wants to live this way? It really isn't up to her. She's going to stand up. I hope just because I gave you some bad news that you're not planning on breaking your promise, Dagon. I really hate it when people break promises to me.

You'll get your sigh on. Uh, and again, the smile's going to return to her face, but it's, there is nothing warm about this smile. It's much more menacing. Excellent. If you'll all excuse me, it's getting pretty late. I trust you know the way back. Thank you for your time and graciousness. She's going to ever so slightly kind of bow her head. Let's, let's go outside the shack while that's happening. Is, is Actaeras going to speak to Kori at all? So as she, as she steps on the, I guess, on the porch, I don't know. I see a porch. Yeah, there's like a, yeah. She's going to turn my helmet around and ask, so did you get everything you hoped you would get out of this?

So I think when Kori exits the shack, she's going to like briefly look at Actaeras, but she hates it when people see her cry. So she's just going to sort of walk right past him. Like into, into the swamp? Yeah, she wants to be alone. Kori, don't stray too far. You know I'll always be around. She will raise her hand up like in and to an oil of the chamois, but she's not going to look back. She's just going to keep walking. As if, if everyone's leaving in like a brilliant, if he's the last one leaving the shack, he's going to turn to the witch and he's going to clear a stroke.

You know, someone I used to consider very important to me once told me that even the sun will have its time in the afterlife and he's going to just leave. Kori, go ahead and make a stealth check for me. 24. Does a 24 beat Actaeras's passive perception? Yes, it does. Then Kori is going to walk off into the swamp and Actaeras is going to lose sight of her. As Kori's going into the swamp and, and she knows that no one is following her, I assume that she would make sure that she's not being followed. She'll just take a minute and stop walking and sort of just like fall to her knees and bawl out crying, like loudly sobbing.

She doesn't care if, if anything were to hear her and she'll just sort of fall back defeated. 25. On the 21st day of Amada in the year 1263 in the mountaintop city of Orash, the Dragonborn have selected a new leader based on a brutal series of combat trials. Kraygar the Merciless has bested all challengers and claimed the city and its people for his own. However, for one week he must defend himself in combat against all challengers successfully in order to retain his title. So far he's been successful and has earned quite the reputation as a result.

A figure stands in the city's fighting ring to test Kraygar. His mouthpiece is there to ensure the challenger is prepared. So, you wish to challenge Kraygar for leadership of the city? If you ask me, you look a little on the scrawny side, maybe even sickly. What makes you think that you can do what so many much more physically gifted Dragonborn could not do? Cause I ain't no little bitch.