Welcome to Lochfort

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You know the one I'm talking about. You can fill it with minis, board games, new packs of Magic the Gathering cards. Speaking of minis, I'm stocking up currently for this trip in September, and I don't know if I've ever found better prices than the ones on nobleknight.com. I know they can usually be a bit on the expensive side, but I have found some great deals on the featured items list. And if that doesn't jump out at you, then there's 50,000 other items to peruse through. So go to nobleknight.com, get your game night started, and have some fun. Let's do that thing where we go around the table and introduce ourselves.

I'm Jason, I'm the Dungeon Master going around the table, starting with La'Ron. - Hi, I'm La'Ron, and I play Cole Dualfang, a long-toothed shifter druid. - And Karen. - Hi, I'm Karen, I play Jaspine, a human warpriest. - And Kira. - I'm Kira, I play Ingrid Pike, a gnome sorcerer. - And Valerie. - Hi, I'm Valerie, and I play Sora Greywing, a halfling ranger. - And Lisa. - Hey, I'm Lisa, and I play Elorath Beestinger, the halfling barbarian. - So last time, guys, things got a touch heated. (giggling) You decided to give the Silverglade a wide berth for now. And to do that, you decided to run the length of the liver, run the length of the river that runs parallel to a bandit's rest.

Now that did obviously help you dodge things like werewolves and the bulk of any bandits that would be in the forest, considering you're in the opposite side of the river. Along the way, you saw a bit of an encounter between two people, one of which was shot with an arrow and fell into these raging rapids, the river there. Sora wanted to do something to save that person. Some members of the group felt that that was suicide and that perhaps it was a little selfish to jump in or whatever, so there was a bit of a disagreement on that. Putting that aside, Elorath risked her life to jump into this river and save this person, and credit where it's due, did a fantastic job with the help of the party of getting this person to shore and everyone lived.

So give yourselves a round of applause for that one because that was not an easy feat. Afterward, Sora and Cole had words. And I guess they kind of reached an understanding, we'll see. But there's a bit of tension in the party, I'm not gonna lie. So how's about we pick up directly after the events of the last session, guys, and you are sitting by the bank of this river and kind of getting your stuff together. What would the party like to do? - If we're picking up immediately afterwards, I'm still in wolf form. - I wanted to know if the guy who was rescued is conscious yet or if he's unconscious still.

- This would be a thing where after, while Sora and Cole are kind of shouting at each other. By the way, that was, I would say, I would have the party role perception on that to see how much of that they picked up. But yeah, you guys do that. - I don't think we're being quiet about it. - You weren't, but you did make a point to, you started that conversation if you remember. - I probably heard nothing. - We'll see. You started that conversation if you remember, it's like, well, I'm gonna walk away from the party and have a private and then it became a shouting match.

So wasn't that private, but this guy is going to start to cough up water and he's gonna, yeah, he's alive. Like he's very much alive. Josephine, Elorath, Ingrid are all going to hear aggressive shouting. I'm coming to the direction of Sora and Cole. They're gonna be in sight. It's gonna be a little difficult to hear everything that they're saying, but they are not making a secret that they very much disagree about the way that was handled and what was done. It's very, very clear what they're arguing about. It does not take a rocket scientist. So you guys know.

So this individual on the ground is gonna, he's gonna sputter and cough and choke and roll over, almost like he's doing, he's kind of on his hands and knees, just kind of coughing. But again, very promising because alive. How would Elorath be doing? - She's probably very tired and upset about like being wet at the moment. So she's probably just like trying to shake off and she's wringing out like the long part of her hair and then like checking on that guy. And once she sees that he's up, she's like, oh, thank God. 'Cause she's like, that better not have been for nothing.

- Yeah, not gonna lie, that heel check did a lot to expedite that. That was, it was a good thing. It was a good thing Josephine was there, I guess. - Is he like on his back coughing up water? - He was, he rolled over. He's kind of on his hands and he's not quite on his feet yet but it's, so at this point it would be, he's pretty much done choking, just kind of catching his breath, a lot of panting and he's gonna start to look around at the party. - Is he making any moves to stand up? - Not quite yet. Still very much getting, still very much getting his bearings and sort of assessing the group to see what the hell is actually going on because while it's really clear that Elorath doesn't wish him any harm, he's trying to figure out exactly why you would risk your life to save him.

That kind of, you can kind of see that like in his eyes, just like, okay, why? - Elorath would probably like if she sees him like looking at her, just be like, you all right? - And a few more seconds of panting, kind of frantic, just trying to get his breath. Yeah, thank you, really and he's gonna reach out and offer up a hand for Elorath. - She'll take it and she'll say, no problem. - He is actually going to pull, after Elorath takes his hand, he's actually gonna pull that into a hug if. - Oh. - If, yeah. - Okay, awkward wet river hug. She'll like stiffen up a little bit and then just pat us back like, okay.

- That's nice, don't touch me. - Yeah, must we? - Seriously, I would have been Ted without you, thank you so much. - And Ingrid's going to look at him, so why was that guy trying to kill you? - It's kind of a long story. - You've got time. - And he's gonna glance over to Sora and Cole, just sort of taking in the party. It's not lost on him that Cole's a wolf, which is a little strange, not unheard of obviously, but a little strange, it's not the norm. - Have Cole and I walked back yet or are we still kind of away? - Yeah. - Yeah, I assume we did. - Yeah. - Okay, okay.

Technically I broke into their camp, but I was looking for someone. - Joe would say, whose camp? Whose camp did you break into? - It's, okay, you're not from here, right? - Do we look like we're from here? - And he's gonna look at you all. - Yeah. - Okay, that's actually a fair point. There's a new vol camp north of here and I was looking to see if my sister was there, but I was caught and they really don't take kindly to trespassers. It was a stupid mistake. I shouldn't have went in alone and I just thought that one person sneaking in would be easier than a party or a troop of people.

I couldn't afford to pay anyone anyway. - Jason, what would I have to roll to remind myself about the new vol? 'Cause I remember asking about it when we first were in the Overwatch. - Slave traders? - Yep. Yeah, that's kind of something you established. - Wait, I didn't. - Josephine did not, that's correct. (laughing) - How can he tell if he's lying? What do you roll? - Insight. - Can I roll an insight? I wanna know if he's actually telling the truth. - You want him to be lying so bad. - I do, I really do. - So I'll have, let's do Ingrid, do me a favor, roll an insight check and Josephine, do me a favor and you can roll history or streetwise.

- Wow, okay, Ingrid is insightful which is the opposite of her perception. - Yes. More of a people person. - Ingrid is going to pick up a couple of things. One, you can tell by the tone of his voice, he is not giving you the full story but that does not necessarily mean he's lying. From what you can gather so far, he is telling the truth. He was looking for his sister, he was, he did break into their camp, he was trying to look for someone and free them. Like that doesn't seem like a lie. However, it seems like there's a lot more to this story obviously that he could be telling you.

- Okay. - And Josephine rolled a 14 for history. Essentially you would know pretty much what the party would know. The New Wall are the largest slave trading operation at the very least on the mainland. They specialize largely in human and mole trafficking. But they will pretty much bring in anybody that would fetch some kind of price. They will sell them off, I mean they sell them off as almost like dog fighting. They'll sell them off to the highest bidder for armies. They love to sell them off to the onacal and that's sort of fallen through recently. So they're in the midst of finding a new buyer but they will ship people off continent.

So these are not a grouping of good people. You would also know that the headquarters of the New Wall is located somewhere in Bannett's Rest and it is a massive operation. - So Ingrid's going to ask this guy, "Why do you think the New Wall have your sister?" - She used to live in White Hedge and she was traveling to Brightport and that's the last anyone's seen of her and it just sort of stood to reason. No one has any idea where she went. No one in White Hedge knows where she was going. - You don't think it's just as likely that she might have just been attacked on the road?

You must have something a little more than that to convince you to break into a New Wall camp by yourself. - He's gonna narrow his eyes at Ingrid. Let's just say that the lesser of two evils here is that she was captured. Cole is going to at first open his maw, then realize, "Ah, fuck, I'm still a wolf." And then he's going to turn back into his shifter form and he's going to look at the elf. Where are they? - It's across the river. It's a few miles to the north. Look, it's pretty much suicide to go in there. I'm gonna have to come back with a party or someone.

I don't even have any proof that she's there. - What did you see there? - Well, it's a really large camp. They must've had 30 or 40 cages. Each cage had probably five to 10 people in them. I mean, there were hundreds of New Wall there. It's a massive place. I didn't get to inspect every single cage, but at the very least they are keeping people. There's no way to free everyone. Most of them would just be murdered outright. They're too exhausted to fight back at this point. The ones that can fight are kept in special cages and then sold off to the highest bidder.

- Do you know where the special cages are? - Oh yeah, they're in the center of the camp near the fighting ring, but there's no way to get in there without being spotted. Look, I really appreciate what you did for me and I'll find another way to get in there, but I can't ask you to get involved in this any further. And he's gonna stand up. He's gonna start to pat himself down. And he is gonna find what he's looking for and there is a sack of gold he's gonna hand over to the party if someone wants to take it. - Ingrid will take it. She's pragmatic like that, but she's going to look at him when she takes it.

Don't you think maybe you should rest a little bit? You were just mostly dead. - I'll be taking it easy for a day or two, but my next step is trying to find a way in there that doesn't get everyone killed. I don't like to be in people's debt and that's all I have on me. It's a hundred gold, but I do really appreciate what you've done for me. There's not a lot of people who would have done that. - Well, you can thank Sora and Elaraz who were responsible for the most of your rescue. - He's gonna hold a hand out to Sora. - Sora will shake his hand and say, "It wasn't a problem, really.

I just wanted to do the right thing." - Ingrid will kind of snort a little bit under her breath at the whole, "It wasn't a problem." - I was about to say, Cole is just going to like, he's not going to turn his head, but his eyes are immediately directed towards Sora at the mention of, "It wasn't a problem." - Yeah, Elaraz will probably just like look at her and just like cross her arms. She'd be like, "Mm-hmm, okay." - Like, "Yeah, it wasn't a problem. Elaraz did all the heavy lifting." (laughs) - How late in the day is it? - It's getting pretty late.

About sunset now, it's starting to get dark. You guys don't have a tremendous amount of time before nightfall. - Ingrid is going to look at the guy, since we still haven't actually taken his name, and then over at Cole and say, "It's getting pretty late in the day. We're probably going to set up camp. Do you want to stay in camp with us at least?" - He's going to give it some thought. That's actually really generous of you, but I think I'm going to take off. - You aren't worried about traveling this late? - I'm more worried about staying in one spot this late, to be honest.

But if you're ever in Whiteheadge, I have some family there, and they can put you up for the night. It's a place called the Fat Boar. - What's your name? - Oh, that's Davin, sorry. Daviny Inril. - Okay. If you're really sure about leaving, it seems like it might be better to have a little safety in numbers. - Where exactly are you heading? - Towards Bandit's Rest. - You're heading into the forest? - Well, we're on our way to Lochbert. - Oh, why? (both laughing) - We have a reconnaissance mission with the white ravens. - Yeah, okay, you can see him turning this over in his mind, like, "Oh, you guys got it worse, okay." (Sara laughing) Like, "You're worried about me?" - I don't know, well.

- You did almost just drown. I'm just gonna put that out. - Like, again, we're just mostly dead. The rest of us are still fairly pale and hardy, at least at the moment. - I'm getting better. (both laughing) I feel happy. (Sara laughing) - I guess I could stay with your party, at least until the end of the river, and then I'm gonna split off, but yeah, sure. That's, again, really generous of you. - Nature check to find a decent place around here to camp. - Give it a shot. - Okay, 21. - 21's not bad. - Yeah, the nine threw me off, rolling the nine. I was like, "Oh, come on." - It's getting trickier to find a place that your journey thus far has been a dangerous one between the divide and Dragon's Reach and now this place.

You're kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place because you have the bandits on the other side of the river. The wildlife in this section of the world is spotty. You, there's less bears and wolves and things like that, more dragons, ogres, giants, things like that. They're a rarity, but they do exist. And then of course you have the werewolves further south in the Silverglade and all the other stuff in that forest. But you figure that if you can find, if you can find some sort of shallow cave, something like that, or at least some sort of, you know, smaller overhang of trees, something that would block a fire that you could set up visually so that, you know, every predator from miles around won't come, be it bandit or animal, then you should be pretty good for the night.

You should have a better chance. - Okay, and what a perception on me if I said cave? - I would ask you to give it a shot. Yeah, we're gonna see how well you're gonna scout out a place for the night. - All right, that's better. - Hey, 30. Yeah, so Cole's gonna get pretty lucky here. And there is, there's a really small rocky overhang, not too far from here. Far enough away from the river that you probably won't, you probably won't get any bandits, anything like that. And it should block any fire. There's only really one way in and out. So this is pretty much the best case scenario for you guys.

It'll block the elements in case it rains. It'll keep you relatively warm. And yeah, everyone will not see you there. So unless you get really unlucky during the night, you should be fine. - Okay, I will alert the party of said location. - So I'd imagine you guys are setting up camp for the evening? - I say so. - Just like a plan. - So setting up camp, getting everything, getting everything set up, how come for you guys getting you setting up bed rolls and tents and stuff? Or are you just kind of catching a nap, like getting a little rest, getting a regular fire going, eating some rations, that kind of thing?

- I was just gonna say, I know Elorath probably wouldn't mind a fire. She's probably a little cold. Fire, fire, fire. Damn it. - You're fine. - It's adorable, stop apologizing for it. So you guys got your fire set up and you're getting cozy. - Oh, Lord Jesus, it's a fire. - I'm gonna cook this chicken in some earl. - Nobody got time for that. - So you guys are getting cozy. You're settling in and Devon's gonna speak to the party. If you want, I can take first watch so you can all get some rest. It's sort of the least I can do for you. - I think you probably need the rest as much as any of us. 'Cause Ingrid doesn't really like the idea of him watching over them.

Alone. - Ingrid is distrusting. - Yes. - Joe's not gonna say anything, but she's gonna stay up. She will not sleep. So do with that what you will. - So she's not going to actually tell us that she's planning on staying up though? - She's gonna like settle up against like the side of the cave and like cross her arms and watch the entrance. Kind of one of those things. She doesn't look like she's getting cozy. She figures that you guys probably don't trust her anyways. So why should she volunteer? - Yeah, so Devon will kind of plunk himself down next to the fire and try and dry out.

Take his wet boots off, that kind of thing. Just doing his best to dry out. I would imagine Elorath isn't too far away from the fire either. - Yeah, no. She's got like, she's probably got like her boots off and like her feet, tiny little feet, or just pointed towards the fire and just like, yeah. You know, it's like waving them back and forth like you do. She's like, mm-hmm. It's adorable, but she doesn't like to be adorable. - Everyone do me a favor and roll a perception check. - Okay. - Almost a cray. - Yes. - Everyone in the party, as night is falling here and you guys are warming up by the fire, the temperature is gonna start dropping a bit.

And you're gonna notice that a fog is settling in pretty much everywhere around in this area. There are a couple of areas where you can kind of look out and see where there's a hill or two and it's definitely settled into the lower portions of the land here. And it's sort of famous in the area and this fog stretches from here all the way into Lockford. The fog around Lockford has become infamous as a matter of fact, because people will just disappear into that fog. You'll hear a sound and then they just will not come back. - So it's a good thing we can't.

- Would my low light help in fog? - Not really, no. - Darn. - It's not darkness, it's just, it's a reduction of how far you can see it. Yeah, yeah, it's... - I was hoping but... - Is there a role for visibility? Is there a role for not fog? - But the wind chill this night. - It's, no, no, no, no, no. It's really commonplace here. It's just eerie and it really adds to the suspense of camping or walking. Oh man, if you're walking along the road, it's a nightmare because I mean, you don't know. And especially if someone comes out of the darkness or comes out of that fog, like they could just be a traveler, but your knee jerk reaction is, "Holy shit." Like, I mean, people get attacked that way and it's over nothing.

It's over just someone coming out of the fog, just walking along and yeah, it'll happen and it sucks. Who would like to do me a favor and roll a flat D20? - Me. - Are you sure, Val? 'Cause... - There's a lot of pressure. - I mean... - Didn't he bring us dragons last time? - I didn't bring dragons. I mean, if y'all don't want me to, I won't, but... - I mean, somebody's got to do it, so... - If you're feeling like he wants to, go ahead. - If you feel like you got a hot hand, go for it. - Yep. - Okay. Not much better. - Good, have we ever gotten above a 10? - I don't think you ever have.

- Yeah, there was the one time when we got a plus two for having a nice day. - Yeah, but I don't think we still rolled above a 10. We just got a plus two. - So we made it above a 10. I think it was like a nine and then with a plus two, it was 11. - Yeah. - Do me a favor, everyone roll a perception check. - Oh no, this will go so well for me. - Wow, I might actually perceive something. - Hey. - Oh yeah. - Where was that 20 a second ago? - Right? - Jesus. - What would have happened if we got a 20? Would we find a bunny? - Well, just like a really bad thing happens if you get a one, a really good thing happens if you get a 20.

- Buckets of XP just start raining down. (laughing) - Right? - Congratulations, you're number 12. - Let's see here, Josephine, Cole, Ingrid, Elorath, Sora. You're all gonna start to hear a noise. Coming from the outside of this little overhang of rocks that you guys are camping underneath. Whatever it is, it sounds fast because you're going to hear it coming from the left and then very swiftly moving toward the right and then nothing for a bit. And what it sounds like is a very quick and deep growl and then just sort of a scamper and then nothing for a few seconds.

And I imagine that gets the entire party's attention. And Sora and Josephine are going to see movement. They're gonna see this mist kind of shift. Something is definitely out there and it looks to be about, if you could guess, 20, maybe 30 feet away somewhere in there. It is not very far away at all. You're gonna see this fog sort of like billow and sort of pulling around itself as this thing moves quickly and then settle back. - Sora will take out her bow and knock it, but not pull it back and just say, "Something's there." - How would the party react to that?

- Is it paying attention to us? - You can't tell. - Well, no, I'll ask Sora that since she apparently saw it. - I can't tell. - My God. - Sora Greywing, ladies and gentlemen. - So God has come to me and he has told me that I can't tell. - So Ingrid's going to look at Sora and just say, "Well, just don't run out there until we know a little more than it's there." - Sora will, she's focused on looking out at the fog, but there will be a little smile tugging at her lips. - How close am I to Devin? - You're within about five feet of him. Like you're pretty close.

- Okay, I'm gonna turn to him, get to the back of the cave, hug the wall. - The way that you are in the back of the cave, essentially, this is a very shallow. - Oh, okay. - Yeah, this is a very shallow thing. Like you guys, it's pretty much just large enough for the party to sit in here and have a fire a safe distance away from you so that you won't burn alive. Like this is a very shallow. - Okay, well, I'm just gonna tell him to get behind us then. - Would the cave be situated in such a way that like the firelight would shine out of the front? - Sadly, if anything, the fire's kind of hampering your ability to see because you gotta peer over the flames in order to look out.

- Right, but like with the-- - But yeah, the immediate area around, yeah. Like it would sort of light up the immediate area. It's almost pitch black beyond that. - Okay, well then Elarath's probably gonna put out the fire 'cause she's right there. - Okay. - Stamp it out real quick if she can. - I'll help you. - Like pull on her boots real quick, then stamp it out. No bare feet. - Okay, so this fire is gonna be extinguished and you're gonna watch as the fog from outside starts to slowly creep into this little enclosure that you guys have going on. And it's almost, it's very eerie to watch it happen in real time.

Everyone roll a perception check for me, please. - I really hope I get something for low light vision. (laughs) - Not that it matters. - Eventually, yes. - Negative. - Ooh, wow, okay. Josephine Cole Sura. It's gonna be stark quiet again. After the fire goes out, there's no sound coming from this cave except the sounds of your individual breathing, which has become just ever so slightly intensified after you guys are ready and at attention. You've been through this before. You know that bad things could happen. And then you're gonna hear that deep growl again, but it's not lengthy.

It's very sudden and quick and it's over in a second. And then you're gonna watch this fog move again. And Josephine Cole and Sura are gonna almost make out a figure. And from what they see, it appears to be over six feet tall. - Can I roll like a nature check or something to see if I recognize the type of growl and the information that you've given us? - Please roll a nature check. Sura is not going to recognize what this might be. There's just too many things it could be. All you know is that it's really fast. You're really far away from the Silver Glade for it to be a werewolf.

And there's no real documented cases of them coming this far north. That doesn't mean it's an impossibility though. - Since Cole and I rolled high two, can we also do a nature check? - Yeah. - Go right ahead. - Okay. - Almost a crit, sorry. - Josephine's gonna catch a glimpse of this thing along with Sura Cole, Sura and Cole. And there are a few things in this area that sort of match up with what she thinks it might be. Werewolf is the closest, but again, it doesn't make sense for it to be this far north or at least everything she knows about werewolves, it doesn't make sense for it to be this far north.

And it probably would have attacked by now if that's what it were. It probably would have been able to spot the fire. They're pretty expert hunters. You guys are, the three of you are all going to listen to it as it darts from the right and to the left this time. And then what it sounds like it's doing is swinging back around this enclosure. It sounds like it's running in the dirt and it sounds like it's using more than two legs. And then do me a favor everyone roll one more perception check. - Too focused on what it could be. - I'm hiding behind Cole's knees.

- Everyone in the party is going to listen as this thing starts to climb its way very fast, very quickly up the back of these rocks. And it now sounds like it is above you. And it is going to go quiet again. - Nobody move. Guys we're all gonna die. - Someone do me a favor and roll a flat D20. - I'll do it. - Oh God. - Everyone do me a favor and roll a perception check. - Goodness. (soft music) - I perceive nothing. - Hey. - Cole, Sora, Josephine, Elarath. Devin has sort of ducked down at the back of this. Like he has a small dagger ready, but. - Oh, let me. - He is sort of ducked down, not cowering, just sort of at the ready.

And again, it is deadly quiet. The only thing you can hear is the sound of crickets outside and at this point, this entire enclosure is filled in with the same fog that's on the outside. Ingrid is gonna be able to see just the regular, like everything on the outside of this cave is pretty much as it should be. So it's just a regular nighttime scene. With the fire out, she can kind of see a little further, but she can't see into the fog so much as just the sky and everything outside. And then you're gonna hear this sniffing sound. Most assuredly coming from above you.

And it sounds like it's at the entrance of this little enclosure. And it's slowly dawning on you that if something were to attack you, you would be trapped inside with this thing. (grunting) And you're gonna hear it shift around above you. And then at the entrance of this little cavern, you're going to see very large talons start to curl around. So from your perspective, what you're guessing is that whatever this thing is, is perched on top of you and is using the mouth of the cavern as a perch. You're gonna keep hearing it sniff every few seconds. It'll sniff a few times and then snort, sniff a few times and then snort.

And then after what, it feels like an eternity. You're all going to hear it leap off of this structure that you're, this rocky structure that you're all under right now and dart forward. And what it sounds like is that it is scampering off into the night. You're gonna watch this fog shift violently as it leaps forward. From what you can tell, it's moving at a damn fast speed. - Let's not move for a few more minutes. - And then let's go quietly wet ourselves. - Just in case, like let's not move, let's not speak for like a few more minutes until we're absolutely sure it's gone.

- Is that something party-wide? Is that everyone's decision? You're just gonna? - I feel like we would just be like staring at each other, like it's like, right? Like I feel like wide eyes, just like looking at each other, just like nobody would want to break the silence. I don't think anyone would want to be the first one to say anything. - After about three or four minutes of that, just that tense silence. Do me a favor, everyone roll a perception check. - Oh no. - Ew. - I think that's my lowest perception check yet. - Ew. - Gross. - What's up? - Everything's fine guys, there's nothing in the area.

- He's totally moved on. - After about three or four minutes of this silence, no one in the party is going to hear anything. No movement outside beyond the regular crickets and rustling from smaller animals in the forest. No sniffing, no scampering, no growling. It appears as though this thing, whatever it was, decided to move on. - We're not starting the fire back up. - It might be best to lay low. - Cold turn into a wolf. - Cuddle pile, yay. - How's about we pick things up in the morning guys? - Please, please. - I am an old man, you can't do this to me.

(laughing) - I think I didn't breathe for like 10 minutes there guys. - I wish I smoked right now. - First thing that's going to happen when they wake up is Ingrid will look over to Josephine. - See, you're totally good luck. We didn't get eaten in the night. - She's just gonna look over at you wide eyed, like you think that's seriously good luck, which has happened. - Jason, it's morning, right? How light is it? Is it like dawn or is the sun up a little bit higher? - I would say we're picking things up at dawn. I would say the first bit of that fog that starts to dissipate after the sun starts rising, I would assume everyone's starting to get their crowd together.

- Is it light enough for me to get a good look at the ground? - I would say if you gave it a little bit of time, oh yeah, you can go out and, I would imagine you're inspecting for footprints, something like that? - Yes, and if I find one that resembles the talon shits, I want to roll a nature check to identify this animal. - All right, so I'd imagine Cole is checking out the area. And while you're doing that, Devin is going to stand up, kind of address the members of the party that are still huddled around where the campfire was. All right, that was eventful, but I think I'm going to get ready and go now.

- Before you leave, what's your sister's name? - Sadie, why? - In case we run into her. At least then we could point her back in your direction. - Oh, well, again, that's really nice of you. And he's saying that with a tinge of, why are you being so nice? Like, it's kind of that. (Saddie laughs) - Ingrid's not going to say anything. She's just going to level him with like a really flat look. Just not give anything away. - Alterior motives. (Saddie laughs) - No, not ulterior motives. Just, you know, she's not necessarily doing it to be nice to him. - Well, look, good luck with everything you're trying to do.

And if you're heading to Lockford, you're probably going to need it. - That's what they tell us. - Well, they're not kidding. And he's going to give the group, like it looks like he's going to say something else, but just sort of either lose the thought or think better of it. And then just give everybody a nod. And he is going to reach out to shake Elrath and sore his hands again. - Oh, good. 'Cause Elrath is going to want to shake his hand and as she's doing so, she's going to say, "You might want to stay out of the river." Like give him that like, yeah, like when you shake with your right hand, then you like clap somebody on the arm with your other hand.

She's going to do that. Like, "You might want to stay out of the river." There you go. Then clap him on the arm. - And yeah, he's going to give you a bit of a nod and smile. - And to follow that up, Ingrid will just give him a little wave and say, "Try not to get shot." - Good advice. Try not to get eaten. - That's the plan. - And he will leave this little enclosure and head on his way. Cole. - Yes. - Do me a favor roll a nature check. - Okay. - Cole inspecting the area are going to find several large footprints. There's sort of muddy dirt near this area. And these things dwarf Cole's paws in wolf form.

And his wolf form is fairly sizable. Like he's a decent sized wolf. These things are huge. And even in shifter form, these would dwarf his regular boot prints. So whatever this thing is, is fairly sizable. At least its feet are. It's not just the size of these footprints that are troubling. It's the fact that at the end of each toe, there appears to be an insert in the ground where talons have dug in. And judging by how deep these are, you would say these talons are about six or seven inches long. - How many-- - These are long. - How many toes? - Four. - Okay.

- And Cole doesn't know of anything that makes paw prints like this. (sighs) - Okay. So coming to this, I'm gonna go back to the cave. I'm going to address the party. We need to move. Like now. Let's not stay here anymore. - Okay. - Are you continuing on to the town of Lockford? - We need to, because we can't stay here anymore. - Yeah. - Not after that, no. - All right. Who would like to do me a favor and roll a flat D20? - Lisa, Lisa, me! - Go right ahead, Lisa. - I got really excited, sorry. Here we go. Don't suck, don't suck. Oh yeah, 15. - 15. - Hey, we actually got over a 10.

I'm really glad you guys can't see the little dance I just did with that. (laughs) Scoot in my rolly chair. Okay. - You guys are going to continue on for a good bulk of this day toward Lockford. And that means traveling down the rest of this river and then past the road. And then you will be taking the main path toward Lockford. And once you're on the road, you would all breathe a pretty big sigh of relief. 'Cause when you go off the beaten path in Theria, sometimes bad things can happen. On the road, there's always a chance in certain spots, but when you're sticking to the path, you're more likely to run into other people.

There's, you know, when you're off the beaten path in the woods or in the mountains, something like that, that the chances of anyone coming to assist you are slim to none if you run into trouble. So by the time you get back to the road, it is afternoon. You have been walking for hours, every once in a while, kind of stopping to stretch and take a break and sit down for a minute, grab a drink of water, eat some rations, something like that. Along the way, I would like all of you to roll a perception check, please. - Oh, wow. - 24. - Yeah. - Wait, I actually have a higher perception check than some people.

- Hey Josephine, what up? - What is going on? - I totally crit-missed that. (laughing) - Cole is gonna notice something. While you guys are walking along the path, and by the time you get back to the main road, you guys deviated from it over a day ago, just to kind of avoid the silver glade, give it a nice wide berth. But you guys are back on the road now, heading toward Lockford. And it's gonna be just almost mid-afternoon by the time you finally get back on the road and you're more than halfway there. And Cole is going to notice some possessions left on the side of the road.

And what it looks to be is a couple of other satchels and not a chest, but it looks to be a small wooden box. - Is my perception check good enough to get a thorough look at these items? - You would definitely get a good look at them from where you are. And this looks to be, this looks to be a case where sadly someone probably met an untimely end. The thing that claimed them was not concerned about their possessions. As you got a little closer, you would see that the box is heavily blood-stained along with one of the leather satchels. There appears to be a sword sitting nearby, still in its scabbard, and some torn clothing.

- Okay. Nature check to get a good read of the area or like for footprints and stuff like that? - Part of your perception check, you'd see some of that. - Okay. - You are going to see tracks near these items that would indicate that there has been, there has been some werewolf activity here. You guys are in the region officially now where there is evidence that they have been attacking passersby. And you're not sure if this was just a merchant set up alongside the road, didn't know where he was, like what the lay of the land was. You're not sure if this was just some traveler, just some adventurer, if this was just some unlucky guy.

But yeah, this person has definitely passed on and it looks to be that this happened a while back. - And you said it was afternoon? - Yeah. - From where we are, how much farther would it be to Lockford? - You figure you probably have another four or five hours of travel. - How late in the afternoon is it? - It's not that late in the afternoon. You're guessing that by the time you get to Lockford, it'll be dusk. It'll be comfortable, it'll be comfortable to actually reach the town. - Okay. I'm going to pick up everything but the torn clothing. And I'm gonna look at the party.

We should hurry. - Continuing on to Lockford. After several more hours on the road, the sun is going to start to dip in the sky. And it isn't bad yet, but you can already tell that that familiar fog is going to start to set in very soon. The way Lockford is set up, there's a dip in the land, sort of a valley, and that fog settles in really thick at night. It's sometimes very difficult to see just a few feet in front of you, which adds to their current problem, as you can imagine. After a time, the town of Lockford proper will be visible to the entire party.

There's a very familiar waist-high wall that surrounds the entirety of the town, which was originally designed just to set up the borders of the place, not for protection, obviously, or to keep anything out or keep anyone in. It was just to distinguish where the town began and ended. Would everyone please roll a perception check? - Thanks. - 23. - Much better. - Thank you. - Ha! - What? - Wow! - England! - Wow. - I know it all. - The entire party, the entire party as they near this town are going to notice a few things. One, it's a lot quieter than you figured it would be when one describes Lockford.

You kind of get the vision of it constantly being under attack or there'd be guards posted around fighting off werewolves or the awful things that live in the Silver Glades, something like that. But it's actually very quiet. It appears to be pretty serene from where you're standing outside of the town. So you'd be on a hill approaching it. You'd see a couple of lanterns lit. And there are a couple of houses lit up. Approaching the town gates, which again, using the word gates is kind of, it's more of an archway. You are not going to see any guards posted.

And that could be because they just haven't taken up their spots at night. That's pretty much where they're posted at night. So it could be that they just haven't taken up their spots for the evening yet. Or that could mean that they've just suspended the curfew that they've had. And they thought it'd be a wiser move to have the guards in the actual town proper. What would the party like to do? - Hey guys, let's take the fuck advantage of that and get inside the city. - Yeah, let's go inside. - Yeah, let's go inside, find ourselves an inn. Fuck this fog.

- As you finish your way down the hill and you make your way to the archway that leads into Lockford, the sun is going to pretty much finish dipping behind the trees. And that fog is going to start to creep in around your feet and ankles. And it gives this otherwise quaint looking town a very eerie vibe because it's that combined with the utter stark silence. And its reputation kind of paints a really eerie picture. And after the sun is pretty much gone, it's fairly dark. And you figured that there'd be more lanterns lit. You figured the town itself would be lit up.

Do me a favor, everyone roll a perception check. - Not as good, but still fine. - I'm apparently using all of my good rolls on these perception checks. - Jesus, look at you, Ingrid. - Actually perceiving stuff. - Sora, Ingrid, and Cole. While the group is walking through town and Lockford isn't incredibly large as towns go, it's almost on par with Whiteheadge. It's not a major city by any means, but it is a fairly sizable town. It's bigger than a regular settlement. And as you walk through, Cole, Ingrid, and Sora are going to notice how absolutely quiet this place is.

And looking around at the buildings, you're going to see where a lot of the structures have been boarded up. Windows, doors, any openings have been boarded up. Some of them from the inside, some of them from the outside. Common structures like the inn, tavern, boarded up. And some of them appear to have been boarded up, but then the front doors are knocked down. Some of them appear to be ripped to shreds. - Oh, oh dear. - And again, there are a couple of lantern lights coming from a couple of still standing structures. And you're going to notice them get snuffed out as you enter town.

And at about the center portion, where Main Street would essentially be, I would like you all to roll one more perception check, please. - I don't want to see anything. Oh wow. Hey, Ingrid, what is going on? - I would imagine that the group would start to become a little on edge, because it's not every day that you walk into a town and see that one with such a reputation as Lockford would start presenting symptoms of abandonment. And again, at the town's center, it's going to start to become apparent to you that there either aren't many people left here, alive or in town, or something recently has happened that is catastrophically awful.

Ingrid and Sora are going to hear a noise, rounding the corner down the street from you. You're going to hear something get knocked over. It sounds like maybe some boxes, some crates, something like that. And it's distant. And then looming over the fog that has settled in over this town, you are going to see a lone creature standing at just over seven feet tall. It is a massive gray werewolf. And after a few moments, it is going to start sniffing at the air. And then very slowly, it's going to turn toward the party. Its ears are going to flatten and its stance is going to kind of crouch.

What would you guys like to do? - Is there any cover? - Run, please. - Is it only me and Ingrid that sees us? - It would be you and Ingrid that notice it, yeah. - Yeah, is there any cover? - The only cover that you would see apparent to you are the buildings that I just described. And obviously the ones with no front door are going to offer almost nothing. There are a few buildings that are not boarded up and they may be your best bet. Your other options are just to try and book it out of town or try and make for some sort of higher ground by climbing up the side of a building, something like that.

- Did the werewolf see us? - Oh, it's definitely looking. - Like it sniffed, but it knows that we're there? - It's definitely. - Yeah, and we aren't hiding. - No, you would be in the center of town. You're guessing that it spotted you. It is a good distance away. - Can werewolves climb? - Roll a nature check. - Oh, my nature check sucks, but okay. - 10. (laughing) You're not sure. - Great. How far away is it? - If you were to give like a quick estimate, you're guessing it's about 60 yards away. So it's a good distance, but these things are pretty fucking fast. And after a moment, after it kind of flattens its ears and kind of lowers its head, it is going to crouch down and plant its front paws onto the ground where it was standing on its haunches a few seconds ago.

And it is going to growl. - Do we really want to back ourselves into an alley? No escape route? - As soon as we move, it's gonna come right for us. - I think if we're gonna fight it, we should put our backs up against a wall so that nothing can surround us from the behind. - That does have some merit. - 'Cause pack tactics. - Yeah, I agree with that. Part I don't agree with is fighting this thing. - I don't want to fight it either, but I don't think there's really an option where we don't have to fight it and intimidating it might be worth a shot. - Okay.

- Well, you have a few options. - Do tell, Jason. - I will lay things out for you. One, again, book it and just make a break for it and hope that you can outrun it. Two, you can make your way into one of these houses, slam the door behind you and try to barricade it shut. Three, you can fight it. You know, I think you pretty much understand your odds. Four, try to make for higher ground, whether that be running through one of these buildings or trying to scale the backs of one of them. That would still kind of involve booking it first. Five, make your way down an alleyway.

And again, maybe you can try to lose it. So you have options. - What would I have to roll in order to decipher which one of those ideas are the best ones? - I almost think higher ground. - I was thinking higher ground as well. I just want to make sure. - Attack from above. At least any of us here have distance attacks. - 'Cause I feel like what to roll to figure out would probably be like a nature or streetwise or something like that. But I'm not sure. But I'm down with the higher ground if we can find one that if we can find a building that's like certain enough to get higher ground.

- I think that might be the best bet, yeah. - We could book it to a building. The stronger people could hold the door closed while the people who have range attacks could go upstairs and shoot from the windows. - That's a good idea. - Best of both worlds. - I like that idea. - So either way, we're gonna be booking it regardless. - Right. - From many yards away, you're going to hear this wolf make a deep guttural growl. And then you're going to hear it tear into the dirt beneath it as it lunges forward toward the party. - Okay. Run, run! - The party is going to turn and start advancing toward the nearest building that isn't boarded up in a swift fashion, let's say.

And you're going to hear an ungodly sound behind you. - Oh no. - As mouth agape, this wolf is just growling, almost foaming at the mouth with anticipation of getting to you. And if you were to peek over your shoulder for just a moment, you would watch this beast tear through the fog and cut through it faster than anything you've ever seen move before in your life as it leaves a wake. Everyone do me a favor, roll an athletics check. - My athletics is so low. Can it be acrobatics? - Oh, thank God. - Oh, thank God. - Holy fuck. - I'm totally going to get eaten.

Yes, almost a crit. Oh, thank God. - Oh no. Guys, I have a plus one. I'm going to die. - You got it. - I had a negative one, Valerie, okay? - I'm going to cry. I'm like ready to... - Dude, I currently have the lowest roll. You and I, we are fucked. Sure you don't want to try and intimidate it? Yards away, Cole, Josephine and Elorath are going to move swifter than they've ever moved in their entire lives as they make a break for one of these buildings. Cole. - Yes? - Elorath. Do me a favor, roll an athletics check. - Oh wow. Hey, we're tied. - Yeah. Both Cole and Elorath are going to slam shoulder first into the door and it is just going to barely give way on the other side as it seemed as though someone propped something up against it, but almost in a haphazard fashion.

They are going to dig deep and push. Do me a favor, roll a strength check, both of you. - Oh, nat 20. Suck my dick door. Sorry, excuse me. - Digging deep, they are going to push with all of their might and you're going to hear something heavy drag on the opposite end of this door and you are going to push until Cole's body can fit through, which means pretty much everyone else in the party can fit through. Behind them, the wolf is going to close in. You are going to hear this thing tear into the ground, almost losing its balance as it moves as fast as it can.

Lagging behind the party is Ingrid and Sora. Do me a favor, Ingrid and Sora, roll one more athletics check. - Fuck me. Oh, oh no. I'm sad, I'm going to start crying, just so you know, Jason. You made a little girl cry today. - You're 18. (laughing) It's about time you learned that life is full of disappointments, Valerie. - That's what my father tells. (laughing) - Ingrid is going to dig deep and she is going to find a strength in her legs that she didn't know she possessed and as the rest of this group tumbles through the small opening left as Elarath and Cole pushed open this door, Ingrid is going to cross the threshold of this building to join Josephine and the rest of the party.

Sora, on the other hand, as she gets to the landing of the small house, she's going to catch her foot on the first step and she is going to just tumble forward and fall a few yards shy of the door. Let me roll for the wolf. - No, then. - This wolf, almost moving too swiftly, is going to make one last desperate dodge toward this door before the rest of the group can close it and he is going to close in on Sora specifically and leap forward. Sora, do me a favor, make one more athletics check. - You got this, you got this. - Sora is going to claw her way forward, sinking her nails in between the stones that make up the landing of this house and claw forward toward the door.

And she's just inches away from the threshold when the wolf sinks its claws into her ankle and then wraps its thumb around the base of her leg and is going to start to savagely jerk to her small body backward. What would the party like to do? - Would any of us see this? - Oh, we'd all see it. - Okay, I just want to make sure I don't miss. Should I try ghost sound, see if I can distract it? - Do another cow noise. (laughs) - I don't think werewolves care about cow noises, but. - Well, here's the thing. One, it would have to be a very, very high roll at this point because it already has prey.

- True. - We have to try to get her. - We know we need silver to kill it, but maybe if I just hit it with lightning or something like that, it will distract it enough for us to get ahold of Sora and hold her hand. - Okay, I'll give you a one shot. - Ooh, okay, I'm going to use whirlwind. That's an area burst one within 10 squares. You can choose not to target a creature in the origin square of the burst, so that will be Sora. If I do hit it, it's D10 plus charisma modifier damage and you knock the target prone. - Okay, go ahead and target the wolf when you like.

- All right, wish me luck, guys. - Luck. (screams) - That is going to hit the wolf. - Oh, thanks. - Sora is going to let out a terrible scream as the claws of this wolf sink into her lower leg. Ingrid is going to let loose the whirlwind in the split second before the wolf yanks Sora's tiny frame back away from the door. The wolf is going to very temporarily fall prone and in the process let go of Sora for just a moment. Almost immediately, the wolf is going to tumble back over itself and then right itself. And you guys have just a moment before he is going to advance back on Sora.

- I'm pulling her in. - Yeah, pull her, pull her. - Both of you do me a favor, roll an athletics check. - Oh, fuck. She's little. - I'm really little, guys. - Sora, do me a favor, roll an athletics check. - Oh no. - Sora is in intense pain. Her leg is bleeding, her fingernails are almost bloody from digging into the crevices between the stone just to get some kind of leverage to move forward. And she is going to lurch forward just a couple of inches and hold out her hand. Both Elorath and Cole are going to grip her wrist and arm and start to tumble backward toward the door.

The wolf is going to get up on its hunches and move toward you as a party. And it is going to leap forward. Sora's legs are going to cross the threshold of this door just as the wolf makes it. And I'm guessing you are going to try and slam it shut. - Yes. - Yes. - Yes. - Josephine, do me a favor, roll a strength check. - Oh shit, me? - Yup. - We got her. - The rest of the party's a bit disposed. As Sora crosses the threshold of this door, Josephine is going to place her entire body weight behind this door. And you're going to hear the thing slam as the noise echoes through this tiny enclosure and a split second later.

The door is going to almost open again as the wolf's entire body weight is going to slam against the house. Josephine is going to dig deep and just manage to close the door again. But this wolf does not appear to be giving up that easily. What would you guys like to do? - Can I assist now that Sora's inside? - Yeah. - You sure can. - All right. I assume strength checks. - Can we move that heavy thing back? Ooh, there was a heavy thing in front of the door. - There was a heavy thing in front of the door. - Let's move the heavy thing back. I'll do that while you guys are holding it, if we can.

- Let me ask who's holding the door. - I'm holding the door. - Okay, Josephine, Cole holding the door, Ella Rath and Ingrid. - I'll assist. - Okay, so here's what's gonna happen. Cole, Josephine, do me a favor, make a strength check. - Come on. - The wolf is going to start to violently batter the entranceway to this house. And each time it does, you're going to hear its huge talons rake against the wood. You're gonna hear it rake and tear and claw with vicious ferocity and speed. And each time it throws its shoulder and body weight against this door, it is going to open just a little further.

The third time it does it, it's going to start to wrap its claws around the outer edge of this door, keeping you from closing it completely. Ingrid, Ella Rath, do me a favor, roll an athletics check. - Wow. - There is a heavy bookshelf that is pressed nearly against the base of this door that was obviously placed there to try and keep something out. Both Ella Rath and Ingrid are going to dig as deep as they can and start to push this bookshelf back against the door. And they are going to move it a couple of feet back to where it was before keeping the door from flying open.

But you still have the problem of this wolf's hand. And after a few seconds, it is going to violently snake its other hand into the crack. - Can I use staff of striking? - You sure can. - And just whap its hands? - Sure. - Okay. - Do me a favor, roll an athletics check for that. - Okay. Oh, wow. - Ingrid is going to rear back with her staff and slam it across the knuckles of this wolf's claws. And you're going to hear this thing yelp from the other side of the door. And it's going to withdraw its right hand. The left one is going to dig into the opposite side of the door.

You can tell it's digging in and pushing as hard as it can. And the problem is it has enough leverage to start to move the bookshelf back just a bit. Do me a favor, Cole, Josephine. Oh God, yes. - Hey. - Almost the crit. - Cole and Josephine are going to pull back for just a moment and then slam their shoulders into this door. And it is going to crush this wolf's hand. This wolf is going to violently pull back. And after a few moments, it is going to just barely pull its hand out from that crevice. And the door is going to slam shut with a resounding thud.

The wolf is going to go silent on the other side of this door. What would you guys like to do? - Is the bookshelf in place? - Looks to be. - Would a nature check inform me whether or not it's a bite or a claw mark that immediately turns? - Oh God, I didn't even think about that. - Go ahead, roll a nature check. - 16. - Cole vaguely remembers hearing something about a werewolf bite, but it's kind of fuzzy. You're not exactly sure. - Joe is going to immediately go down to inspect Sora's ankle. - Thing. - Can I do a heel check? Well, I just, I was, you said ankle and then you were like, base of leg.

I just figured that her leg was so small, it pretty much wrapped around the impact. - Pretty much, yeah. It's anything knee and below pretty much, yeah. Sora would not be able to walk on that currently. Her leg is in bad shape. That wolf within just a few seconds, it got ahold of her. Really did quite a number. You're more than welcome to earn a heel check. - Done. - Damn, sir. - That is a fantastic heel check. - After a few moments of Josephine tending to Sora's leg, you're gonna get the traditional cleric treatment. Any cleric worth their salt, especially out and about like adventuring, would be able to heal wounds like that.

There will be some scars. So Sora will have a very permanent reminder of what this wolf did to her, but she will be able to walk on it. She will be alive. She'll just be sore. - When Sora originally fell down, she was very upset. And when the werewolf grabbed ahold of her, she had started crying. So she's openly sobbing now. And when her leg gets healed, she's going to, as fast as she can, go over to Ingrid and pull her into a really tight hug and just start whispering over and over again, thank you. Just thank you, thank you so much, thank you. And she's still bawling as she's saying this.

- Ingrid will hug her back. You know, good, strong hug. Give her a squeeze and just say, you know, that's what we're here for. We're here to help you. You would have done it for us. - Sora is not gonna let go of Ingrid. Just gonna hug her tighter. - Ingrid will keep on hugging and she will pat and try to soothe her a bit. We have your back. We're here to protect you. - Sora is going to finally pull back from Ingrid and she's going to look around the room and make sure that she gives a very heartfelt thank you to everybody in the room. She'll look at them very seriously, at Josephine, at Elorath, and even at Cole, just saying thank you.

- Cole will respond with a strong nod. - Ingrid will give her another squeeze. Yeah. - Everyone do me a favor and roll a perception check. Cole and Sora are going to hear a scrambling on the other side of this door. And you're going to hear this huge beast move away from the front door and then around to the side of the house. And then you are going to not hear it anymore. What would the party like to do? - Is this a one story house? - Yeah, this is pretty much a one story house. It does appear as though there might be some kind of attic or something like that.

You see like a ladder leading up. If you'd like, you can kind of explore things a bit. - I was just about to ask if there are, how many walls were in here? - I was gonna ask if there's a back door. - Find the ladder, pull the ladder up after us. - Towards the back of this place, this is not a very large, this is not a very large building. But towards the back, there's a ladder that's kind of inset as part of the wall that leads up to this kind of a trap door type of thing. Do me a favor and roll a strength check for me. - Okay. - 18, wow, look at you with the high rolls today.

- Well, except for by five, but yay. - Take him where you can get him. - Exactly, I am not complaining. - Ingrid is going to climb this ladder and then get to the little hatchway, the little door, kind of like it leads into a clubhouse type of thing. And she's going to start to lift and press against this door and it's going to, there's obviously some resistance, but it is going to lift up just a bit. But Ingrid is just not quite going to have the strength to lift this all the way up. So she would guess that there's-- - Can't quite roll the bodies off of the trap door.

- She's going to guess that there is something, something pressing down on it. - I will alert the party. So yeah, there's something on top of this door, something that is keeping it from opening. - I think Illarath would probably look at Cole and she'd be like, you wanna do this? You want me to do it? - How do you feel about, how do you feel about us staying by the door? - I can do that. - You sure? - You can see that there's a bit of hesitance on Cole's face but he's gonna, he's gonna take a deep breath. All right, I'll go check it out. And Cole's gonna go join Ingrid.

- And Ingrid will give him a grin because, hey, tall person, push up the door. - Do me a favor Cole, roll a strength check. - All right, that's a 19 with a 16 D20 roll. Keep that in mind, Jason. - Oh wow. - It's one better than what I had. - Cole is going to, going to try and lift up on this door. And it's going to, it's gonna open just a bit further than it did for Ingrid, but it would be just enough so that Cole can kind of slide his hand underneath of it and get a better grip if he wanted to. - I will do that. - Do me a favor, make another strength check, this time with a plus three.

- Okay, an 18. - This time, whatever's on top of this must be kind of sliding off with each attempt. It might be sliding backward. So each time you lift up on this trap door, it kind of raises it at an angle and it's getting easier to lift this thing. So Cole, if he wanted to, could advance into this attic area. - Sure, I'll advance. - Cole is going to enter into a pitch black room. - I'll follow. - Ingrid is going to follow in behind. And it's an area where you have to sort of duck down. Cole is going to find that out. Not Ingrid, Cole is going to find that out after he slams his head against the angled roof.

- Of course he does. - That's the one time your height has been a disadvantage so far. - An appropriate fuck will leave my mouth. I will laugh. - You're talking to a guy who lived in an attic for a long time, like I've done it many times. - That's what you get for being tall. - Yep. - Never had to deal with that ever. - Nope. - I've also had to duck into every car I've ever owned. - Limbo is always fun 'cause for the first three rounds, I didn't have to do anything. - So can I see anything? - Ingrid has low light vision, doesn't she? - Yes. - While Cole is holding his head, trying to get his bearings and peer into the pitch black darkness of this room.

Ingrid is going to look around and see that it appears as though primarily this room looks like it was used for storage, just odds and ends. Looking down, you're gonna see where there was a heavy box placed against this door, probably in some sort of attempt to keep whatever might be trying to get in the house from at the very least getting into the attic. Do me a favor, both of you roll a perception. Cole, do you have low light vision? - I don't know. - Yes, you do. - Okay, I'll take your word for it. - You do. - I should roll my perception check with low light, got it.

- Nope. - 15. - Look how drastic that is compared to like-- - Jesus. - Yeah. - If I had a plus 12, I would've been in business. - 'Cause fucking Ingrid's on fire today. - Yeah, your nat roll was a 15. My overall roll was a 15. - Let's say Cole's distracted with his sudden headache. - That's fair, I'll allow that. - Peering into the darkness. You are going to smell something. And that is the familiar scent of a candle being blown out recently. And you're gonna hear a very faint sound. And that's movement. - Does Ingrid hear that or do we both hear it? - You're both gonna hear it.

- Okay. - Sounds like it's coming from the other side of this small room. And you're gonna see a couple of boxes stacked up, some clothes stacked around and stuff. And it does appear as though there's some kind of, there's some figure huddled in the corner of this room. - I'm going to look-- - Do they appear to be armed? - Well, you would have your staff. - Well, no, or do they seem like they're armed? - You can't tell, they're kind of like, they're kind of huddled down. You could just barely make out that there's someone there. - I'm gonna look at Ingrid and silently tell her with like facial expressions that I'm going to address them.

- And I maybe do that? Well, yeah, go ahead. - Okay. I'm gonna turn back in the direction of the scuttling and go like, it's okay, we're not going to hurt you. We just need a shelter. None of us are bit, so you don't have to worry about that. I'm gonna do that as quiet, I'm going to do that as normally as possible. Like not too high of a pitch, not too low of a whisper, so that they can both hear me and note we don't attract attention. - Do me a favor, roll a diplomacy check. - I should have done it. - Yeah, you probably should have. - Yep, you probably should have, 'cause that's me, that is me.

(screams) God. - Oh, like pop out from behind his legs or something. Hey, I'm significantly less scary. - Can Ingrid assist me or something like that? 'Cause she assists in that role. - Usually that's done before the actual role. - 'Cause, and not to pun here, but the die is kind of cast. It's kind of like wheels are in motion. - Hey man, you wanted to address them. - Yeah. - You're gonna hear a frantic shuffling coming from behind these boxes. And it would appear as though whatever or whoever is back there is petrified. They're almost going to knock over what they're hiding behind.

Ingrid, Cole, do me a favor, roll a perception check. - I perceive nothing. - I'm so pissed, I am so pissed right now. - Cole is going to focus in very carefully. And he's going to hear that the person behind these boxes is so terrified that the only sound right now that's audible is their teeth chattering. - Shit, okay. - Ingrid will make another attempt at coaxing them out. But you know. - I was actually gonna whisper what I heard to you. - Okay. - So that, yeah, that made sense. - All right, so you whispered and I'll try with you. We really are not here to hurt you at all.

We were just trying to escape from a werewolf. - Do me a favor, roll a diplomacy check. - I'll assist, damn it, okay, you got this. - No, no, no, go ahead. You said you wanted to assist beforehand. - Okay. - Roll a flat D20 for me. - All right. 13. - That'll be a plus two. - Awesome, so 21. From the other end of this room, you're going to see this thin looking boy, appears to be human. You're gonna see the top of their head peer out from behind these boxes. And they look absolutely terrified and kind of filthy. And if you were to take a guess, they've been here for days.

This tiny boy is going to kind of look around to see how many people are in the room and seeing that it's just the two of you. He's going to spring into action and move very fast. Just all of a sudden, just kind of a violent burst of speed. And make his way over to that door and slam it shut again and start to push their body against that heavy body and try and put it back over the door. And that is going to extinguish the tiny bit of light that was pouring into this enclosure. The party downstairs is going to hear that door slam shut and then the dragging sound of that box moving again.

What would be the party's reaction downstairs? - Can we open up that door again? 'Cause Sora would be like, "Whoa, what's going on?" And she would try and get up there. - Um, yeah, you can make an attempt at it. Do me a favor, roll a strength check. Sora is going to make her way up that ladder, just kind of scurrying up. Even though her one leg is still obviously sore, she can put weight on it and is going to make her way up that ladder and start to press against that door, trying to move, trying to move the box, trying to get into it. But her strength is not going to be enough.

In that room, what would Cole and Ingrid's reaction be? - Hey, stop, we're not alone. The rest of our party is downstairs. I'm not leaving them locked out. - Nobody's been bitten. We put the bookcase back in front of the door. We're all fine. - And for the first time, this boy looks to be getting some measure of composure. And he's going to be looking over the two of you. And you can tell that he's straining his eyesight to try and take you in. He can only kind of see your outline. - Good. - That might be for the best. - Yep. - And for the first time he's going to speak, it clearly panicked.

I heard it try to get in downstairs. - It did, we stopped it, at least for now. - And you're going to see him look down at the hatch again. Do you promise? - I promise. - And pretty reluctantly, he's going to start to pull at this box again and take the weight off of it. And as soon as he does, the door's going to spring up. So his little hands are just going to pop into the room. - How does he react when he sees me? - Well, it's going to take him a moment because, first of all, Sora would be the first thing that kind of pops into the room. And that's kind of light.

It's not much lighter downstairs than it is upstairs. - Okay. - But it's ever so slightly better. There are no windows in this attic, so it's just blackness. Downstairs, there are a couple of windows. So Sora's figure, not intimidating at all, actually. If you had to guess, this boy would be 14, 15, something like that, and rail thin. Like just this knobby, neat little kid. That would not be intimidating to see Sora come in here. So just a little bit of light. And he's going to pan back over to Ingrid, and that's fine, and then Cole. And just for a split second, his eyes are going to go wide.

Because of the three of you, Cole is obviously the tallest and most aggressive looking. - And Ingrid will just sort of look over at Cole and just be, "Oh, don't worry about him. He's my bodyguard." - Cole's going to get ready to say something, and then he hears you, and then he stops. And then he's going to look at you with a raised eyebrow. - And she's going to just go with it, come on. - And then he's going to do that shake of the head with the eye rolls, the bassist says, "Ah, fuck." And then he goes, "Yeah, sure. I'm a bodyguard, whatever." - When Sora finally gets that door open, she's going to kind of take everything in as well as she can.

She'll say, "What's going on? Is everyone okay up here?" - Yeah, we're fine. We've just, there's somebody up here and he's a little nervous. - Sora's going to look over at the boy and see him. He's still looking like really scared, right? - Kind of, not as scared now after there's an explanation. Obviously you're standing next to Cole. Cole's not attacking anybody. He's talking. It's obviously he's not one of them, but yeah, anybody in this place, you could see that he's just a little unnerved. - So I'll go over at him and I'll say, "Hi, my name's Sora. This is Cole and Ingrid.

Can you tell me your name?" - Hi, just very, very quiet. You can tell that maybe he hasn't spoken in days. - It's Shaw. - Hi, Shaw. It's nice to meet you. Do you want to come out of this attic with us and we can figure out what to do next? There's more people downstairs. - And Ingrid will kind of quickly sure him, but it's like, but don't worry. They're with us. They're not here to hurt you either. - Do me a favor, Sora. Roll a diplomacy check. Ingrid, assist. - So I'd just be rolling a flat D20. - Just a, wait, are you trained in diplomacy? - Yes. - Then a D20 plus two.

After a second, Shaw is kind of looking down at the door that you're kind of half in and out of and he's just gonna nod his head yeah, just very quickly and then start to make his way toward the hatch. Josephine, Elarath, do me a favor, roll a perception check. I would imagine that Elarath and Josephine are being very attentive to that front door and paying very close attention to any sounds that might be coming from the outside. - Yes. - And ever since the initial commotion of you getting into this house, it has been eerily quiet. And then you're going to hear that door slam shut and then Soar's gonna go investigate and after a few moments you're going to see the party, plus this boy, descend that ladder.

Now the way this little house is set up is there's essentially one large room, kind of a studio apartment type of vibe. And there's like a little wood burning stove to cook on and things in the corner. And then there's a very small room with a bed in it, place to hang laundry, that kind of thing. But it's a really quaint little house. So what would you guys like to do next? - Are we back on the ground floor now? - Yeah. - Okay. I'm going to look at the boy after taking in the immediate surroundings and looking back at the door and realizing that the bookcase was on the door.

I'm going to look back at the boy and give him a smile. Must be quite strong if you remove that bookcase, book the case there all by yourself. I just tipped it over, that's all. It was next to the door. And you can tell that the way his posture is, he's very maybe introverted or just terrified, just scared. But the way he's carrying himself is very guarded. - Right. - Ingrid's going to look at him and just sort of gently ask, what happened here? He's going to look at Ingrid. They're almost the same height. This is kind of a runty kid. - I was going to say, he'd have to be pretty runty.

My goodness. - Yeah, he is not big. You mean to the town? - Well, and you? - Last week they just started attacking again. There were just, there were so many of them. We'd never seen that many at once. They started attacking during the day. They, one day they just came into town and never left. My dad told me to run inside and barricade the door. And then I heard him scream. And that's when I ran into the attic. That was four days ago. - And Ingrid is just going to like, just kind of lose sympathy at this point. 'Cause she feels so bad for this poor kid. You did the right thing.

It's good that you're safe. - There are obviously tears in his eyes. Just thinking about it. Is there anyone out there? - No. - Cole is going to crouch down and he's gonna look. There are a lot of people that had the same idea as your dad. In their homes, boarded up buildings. Probably just as smart as you too. Thinking about finding higher ground. 'Cause nobody was out there when we got here. - He is going to just kind of lurch forward, almost fall over and kind of hug Cole at the waist. And he is just going to start uncontrollably sobbing. - Cole will wrap an arm around him.

- Everyone do me a favor and roll a perception check. Those rolls had to run out sometime. - Yep. Well, at least it's, again, it's on my perception rolls back to nothing. I'm distracted by the sobbing child. And by the fact that he didn't want to bury his face and my magnificent bosom. - A child. - He is like 14. - Oh. - Except she has boots. - Yeah. - I understand now. - Give it time. - I'm not judging anyone's preferences. Really, appraising my own rack to see if it is somehow become deficient. - I mean, fear may have taken over. I mean, even, I mean, even the most horny of 14 year old kids.

- Oh gosh. Sorry, needed a light moment. - Alarath, Josephine, Cole and Sora are going to start to hear a noise. And it is a low growl. - And then it's going to become apparent that the growl is actually coming from inside the building. - No. - God damn it. I should have checked those doors. Shouldn't have left the attic. God damn it. - And then it's going to become apparent that the growl is actually a rumble coming from the small boy's stomach. - Oh God. - How dare you? (laughing) - I think Cole would react that way. Like, holy shit, what the fuck was that?

Oh, I would imagine so because he's currently hugging me. - Right, yeah. - You can probably feel it. - Yeah. - It's loud. It is a loud noise. It's the kind of like, the fuck did a human make that? - Okay. Do we still have rations? - Oh yeah. - Okay. So Cole's gonna go, after he realizes that, he's gonna look at the party. So how's about we get back up, we get back the fuck up to the attic? - That sounds like a good plan for now. It seems like the safest place to be. And we can have a little bite to eat and maybe get some rest. - Sounds like a good idea. And he's gonna look at the boy.

What about you? Sound like a good idea? - He's just gonna furiously nod his head, just kind of wiping away tears. - All right, let's get back up to the attic. - This kid is going to scamper up. Apparently he is quite the little climber. He's gonna scamper up into the attic here. And if you're going to feed him, he is going to descend upon this food in a voracious manner and just cram it into his head. After this kid eats, he's going to reach around on the floor. And you can tell what he's looking for is, there's a candle. There's a candle up here and Ingrid and Cole will kind of see it in the dark.

- I'll get the candle. - So he's gonna kind of clutch it and then he's gonna light this candle up and the room is going to illuminate. And you can definitely tell this kid has been holed up here for days. What would you guys like to do? - First off, did we have the common sense to put the barricade back up on the door? - You didn't say you did, but I move. - That's probably what happened, yeah. - Okay, I would, okay. - Okay. Second of all, is there anything else we can use to help barricade the door? - Sit on it. - The attic has no windows, right? - Right. - That's gonna be an issue.

We can't really see what's going on. - Is there anything useful in the attic? Just generally useful? - There's some clothing and some, the problem is it doesn't appear as though this family were particularly wealthy. Firstly, based on the size of the home they had and secondly, based on what you saw. It's kind of sparsely decorated, so it's not like they had a ton of extra stuff just to throw in the attic. So there's just a few things. There's a couple of boxes and crates littering the place and then some old clothing, some tattered clothing up here. Nothing super useful in terms of fighting werewolves.

Taking stock of your rations. If you ate sparingly and drank sparingly, you could probably survive up here for the next few days, fairly comfortably. - I'm hoping we aren't planning to do that. - Sounds terrible. - Yeah. If we could get out of here as soon as possible, that'll be great. - Okay. Can we cut a window into the wall? Like what is the building made out of? - I wouldn't do that, but that's just me. - I think we need to be able to see something. - Okay, well, Jason, could I roll a nature check to see how many hours until daylight? - Sure. - All right.

I got a 28. - You got about 11 and a half hours until daylight or so. - All right, so we're definitely spending the night here. I'll let Ingrid, if you're letting us know that this is something you want to do, I will inform you that we have at least 11 hours until daylight. - And I'll say that's fine. I don't think it's something we should do at night. We don't want to draw attention, but it might be something we want to do tomorrow if we ever want to be someplace other than the static. - Well, that's a fucking given. We're booking it as soon as it's possible.

- He said they're attacking during the daylight. - That's true, but at least in the daylight, we'll have a better shot at seeing those fuckers before they gang up on us. - Earmuffs. (laughs) Stop, I'm sorry. - The daylight doesn't weaken werewolves at all, does it? - I'm sorry, what? - The daylight doesn't weaken werewolves at all, does it? - No, yeah, the whole moon thing has nothing to do with werewolves in Theria. - No, that's fine. I just wanted to double check that there would be absolutely no other advantage other than, in theory, being able to see them.

- Seeing them coming. - Yeah, that's the only reason Cole wants to leave during the day so we can have a better viewpoint advantage. - However, seeing them coming isn't going to do us a lot of good if they're as fast as that one was. - And we saw that one far away. I'm not sure how much of an advantage that is. It might be better to at least scope things out from up here before we try anything. - That's a fair point. - Jason? What was kind of our original mission to come here? Was it just to see what's going on or was it something more specific? - Originally, it was to scout the area.

- Right. - Reconcen-- - And then send it back. - It was reconnaissance, so. - Yeah. You guys are staying put for the next few hours at least. - Might as well get some sleep. - Yeah. - Is anyone staying up to take watch? - Probably somebody with better perception than me. - Plus 12, so yes. I'm gonna look at the kid. Have you slept at all? - He's gonna look back at Cole. Little bit. Sleep a little bit more. He'll be fine. - This kid is going to kind of curl up fairly close to Ingrid. And not like just kind of close enough. You can tell it's for security reasons. - Comfort, so yeah.

- Just someone there. - She'll kind of hunker down and stay close by. - So a couple of hours are gonna go by. I'm already grabbing the 20. - Cole, do me a favor and roll a flat D20 for me. - That's a five. - Roll a perception check for me. From downstairs, Cole is going to hear something suddenly slam into one of the windows of this building. (soft music) And then it's going to sort of drag up and down. It's taking Cole a few seconds to recognize it. First it's just the, it's just silence and then the sudden jolt of noise kind of shoots through his body, goes completely alert.

And Cole's gonna realize that if it were one of the wolves, this would have crashed through the window pretty easily. It sounds like a fluttering. - Fluttering. - Like a bird. - Ah, still not going downstairs. - So Cole is going to continue to sit here and that noise is going to persist for minutes and minutes at a time. And it'll stop for a few minutes and then come back with a vengeance as it drags up and down this window. Continually trying to get into the building. - Okay. - Is that gonna wake any of us up? - I would say eventually, slowly but surely the party is going to start to hear this.

Just like, oh, what the hell is that? Like eventually everyone is going to hear it. - If anybody asks me what's going on, I'm just going to be sitting with not necessarily my arms, my legs crossed, but kind of like-- - Very deliberately ignoring it? - Yes, very, like with my legs perched, like spread out a bit so that my arms could rest on them. With my backs slouched a bit. And I'm just looking like, I had this look on my face that basically says, my lips are curled into each other and I had this look on my face, just basically goes, nope. - Should we check it out?

- No. - It's the middle of night. I don't really think it's a great idea. At least we're safe up here for now. Maybe we should just let it go. That doesn't sound like a person at any rate. - Doesn't sound like a werewolf either. - But they're out there. And if we slip up once, one will take advantage. I'm not letting anybody else get hurt today. - I have to agree with Cole on that one. It's not, it doesn't seem like the best course of action, at least not now. - So you guys are staying put? - We could try boring the tiny bird sized hole, just in case. - Do you say that?

- Yes. - Cole's gonna turn to Ingrid, give a look and then go. - I know you don't like it, but at least we'd be able to see something and that is probably better than not knowing anything. - Fine. - What are the walls made out of? Is it just wood or is it stone? - It's wood, yeah. I mean, it's wood. They're reinforced and everything. These are nicely constructed houses and stuff. - Sad. - Does anyone have like a knife or a sword or something that we could use to kind of bore a hole? - Do you ask that out loud? - I do because my staff is not going to puncture a wall.

- I raise up my Wolverine hands. - Would you like to try making a hole? Just a little one? - Well, considering, I guess we're close to like the ceiling portion of the attic? - Yeah. - Okay. - Do you have a knife? - I don't have a knife on me, no. - Anyone have a knife? - I have an arrow head. - That'll work, it's pointy. - It'll be slow, but yeah. - We can use it like a hand drill. Just keep turning it. - Basically we're going to be boring through, I guess, with persistence. - I have a question. - And shifts? - Is it possible to like pry up the corner of the roof a little bit 'cause we're in the attic?

- That would take some doing. - Would it be easier than boring a hole in the wall? - No. - Okay, well I was just thinking 'cause then we could just close it back down or whatever. - Yeah, Josephine also has a crossbow so she would have arrows too, like crossbow bolts. - Those are probably stronger than arrows, huh? - Well, I mean it would take a while but you guys can carve out a little thing. So let's say some time is gonna go by. A couple of hours are gonna go by. And this bird, you're gonna hear it continuing to flutter and sometimes it'll be near the window, sometimes it'll seem to flutter away, sometimes but it is sort of circling the premises.

Every once in a while it'll kind of slam into, it'll kind of dance along the roof of this building. And eventually you guys are going to hack away enough of this wall that someone could stick their hand out if they wanted to and at least get that much of their body out or they could see, it's a decent enough people that they could really see what's going on. - I want to take a look. I really wanted the people so I want to take a peek. And I also have a very tiny hand, so. - That's true. Do me a favor, roll perception. - All right, we know this is going to go super duper well.

Yay, not bad. - Wow. - There is a thick blanket of fog that has descended upon the town of Lockford. It is very tough to make out anything that would be at ground level in town. But Ingrid is going to peer out and just sort of keep a watchful eye on things. And every once in a while she is going to see figures moving in the fog, almost like sharks in the water. Like you'll just see the top of a head or you'll see the fog part or just movement. And at one point you're going to see one of these creatures look into the sky, not in your direction, but you will be able to see its eyes.

Its eerie red eyes, almost a beacon in the fog itself. And then suddenly something is going to slam against this wall and specifically at this hole. And this bird is going to muscle its way. It's going to try and muscle its way in, trying to push past Ingrid's face. - Ingrid is going to back the hell up like, ah! This bird is going to make a beeline for that bracer and finally kind of come to rest on it. And this little thing looks exhausted. And you will see that it has a note attached to its leg. - Well, let's cover up the hole for now. Put a box or something in front of it so we can light the candle and read the note.

I'm assuming that even with low light vision, I can't read a note in the dark. - Not really, no. - So covering up this hole, kind of putting a box in front of it, something like that, and lighting the candle. Ingrid is going to remove the note from this raven's leg. And it is a note from Poteutillo. And the quick summary is that they have not heard from you since you left Durnhollow. Everyone is very concerned because by now you should have made it to the town of Lockhart and they're worried that something has happened to you. They got word from the camp outside of Donhurst, but still haven't heard you check in specifically.

- Well, at least we can let them know that this place is a complete and utter disaster. Do we have paper, pen? - Did you say that, Ingrid? Like, out loud? - Yes. - Okay. When you say disaster, I'm going to signal you to not say things like that, and I'm going to point at the boy. - And I'm going to raise an eyebrow because dude, the kid lived through it. He knows it's a disaster. - Okay. That is a good question, Doug. Does anybody have any paper? - I would say yeah. At the very least, you can scribble on the back of the note that was written to you. - Okay. - So yeah, Ingrid will scribble something out of, Lockhart under attack, unable to, I don't know, see the full situation.

- Wherever. - Was attacking day and night. - Yeah. - Maybe like overrun, not under attack. - Yeah. - Okay, yeah, that's a good idea. So Lockhart overrun, werewolves attacking day and night, currently safe but in hiding, send help immediately. - There are survivors. - There are survivors, including us. - Not all of us. - We don't need to tell them that right now. - Right. - Well, they know you lost people. - Oh, they do? - Yeah, because you checked in outside of Donhurst. - Yeah. - Should we tell them about Joe? That we picked up a new party member? - No, they don't need to know that.

- No. - They mostly need to know that we really need help. - They know that there are survivors here. And that's all-- - And that it is a crisis. - Right. - So anything not related to that, I think would probably not really need to be in the note. - I have paper as well, right Jason? - I would say that's a pretty common thing for people to have. - Okay. - People keep journals, people, I mean, it's one of those things that's an invaluable thing. - Okay. While Ingrid is going off asking the party what she should write and getting like opinions and everything, I assume that's what's happening, right?

- Not entirely, but I am sort of taking everyone's under advisement as I'm scribbling, so. - Okay. Well, while you're doing that, I'm going to be writing a note. And that note is basically going to let the ravens aware that about the situation involving the new vaul and bandits rest. And that there is, and that, and basically everything that the half elf told us about their possible location, I'm going to put in the note and see if they can do anything about it. And I'm going to attach it to the other leg of the raven. - Are you sending this bird off?

- No, we should probably let it eat and rest first and then send it off. - That's fine. I just wanted to keep the note on the raven. - So that a bowl of water for it so it can drink. - Yeah, so that when it does go off, it'll have both notes. - Okay. So let's say, let's say a few hours went by. So this bird's getting some rest. It's going to eat and drink. Even if it's just, you know, some stale bread, something like that, just something to, and eventually the sun is going to start to creep up over the tree line. And the first rays of light are going to start to become visible, kind of creeping around that box that is just blocking that peephole.

- Let's see where there's some illumination coming in. What would you guys like to do? - Check it out, look through the peephole again. Maybe suggest somebody else do it though with more perception. - My perception is 12 if anybody's higher. - I think you are the highest one. - All right, I'll give a look. 29. - Well, it's going to take a little while for this fog to burn off. Usually after about the first hour of sunlight, it goes away. These wolves are still very much present in town. Looks to be just a couple of them, but again, they just appear to be stalking through town.

And it doesn't appear as though they have any designs of leaving. - How far are the wolves from our current location? - They are down the street a bit. They are in the distance. They haven't noticed you or anything like that. They just appear to be stalking the streets, like moving up and down, not patrolling, but they are very much looking for food. - Ooh, I wonder. Do you think we can, since it's daylight and we do want to let the bird go, they might notice that and see our hiding spot. Do you think maybe I should try doing a ghost sound or something to distract them while we release the bird?

- Do you really think they would see the bird? I mean, like birds are everywhere. I don't know if it would look that out of place, you know? - It might if it's coming out of the house. - Also, it depends on how far the wolves are from the house. If they're far enough away from the house, we can let it go without compromising ourselves. If it's close to the house and it's like, oh, I want to look in the direction of where that bird came from and yeah, I don't know. - How close are they? 'Cause they're kind of patrolling the streets looking for food? - They are closer than that first one.

So the first one you encountered when you walked into town. So they are across the street, just down a bit. So they're around 45, 50 yards away, somewhere in there. They are in the vicinity. - Up to you guys. This one, I would actually be talking with the group about as to a good strategy 'cause that bird is kind of our lifeline. So we don't want it to get captured and we really don't want it to draw attention to us either. - If you let me know that you can cast ghost sound more than just once a day, then Cole would feel better about it. - I mean, I'm afraid that that's gonna attract more attention because then they're gonna be on the lookout for whatever made that sound.

- Oh, that's true too. - But if they're distracted when the bird goes. - Yeah, that's really all we need. We just needed them to be distracted really briefly. - For that one minute, yeah. - I don't know, then they'll be actively looking for something instead of just kind of stalking around, seeing if they're- - They're already actively looking for food. - If Ingrid can make sure that they're actively looking a good distance away from where we are, that'll give us an advantage. - Or at least on the other side of our building. - Right. - Just someplace that is not our building.

- Jason, are there like other birds around right now? - Not in town, no, you're not really seeing or hearing anything other than these wolves. - Yeah, this place seems like it's been abandoned by everything that doesn't want to be eaten. - The term graveyard could be used. - But let's not though. - How far away does that ghost sound go? - It's- - 10 spaces. - Yeah. - So 50 feet? - Yeah. - Yeah, and they're like already like 45, 50 feet away from us. - Yards, well, the thing is, all you need to do is make sure that it's not near the building. - Yeah, it just needs to be for a minute.

It just needs to distract them. And there are other buildings around, can make it sound like it's coming from one of the other buildings. - I see, do it. - That also makes us dicks though, 'cause what if people are in those buildings? - Oh God. - Well, you choose a building that had a door completely busted off, there's no chance anyone's in there. - Yeah, probably not. - Would that be something we could see from the peephole? - Yeah. - I was gonna say we did see when we were trying to find our own safe shelter last night, I would think we would have noticed.

- Mm-hmm. - Does my 29 perception help him point one of those from here, Jason? - There'd be a building right across the street that would be just close enough. Like she could do a ghost sound within that vicinity. - That's gonna attract all of them to like, close to us though. - But they won't know that we're there. - Yeah, and if we cover the peephole right away, they aren't going to be able to smell us through the walls. I don't know, I just really do not want this bird to be captured, this is our lifeline and we need it, but we also need it to not draw attention to us.

It seems like it might be an option. - Now if the bird just flies up, how are the werewolves gonna get to it? Like we're already kind of-- - It's not that they're gonna get to it, what Kira's saying is that once they see that something exited the house in any fashion, that'll draw them to the house. - Would that? - Don't know, I can't tell you. - I can't tell you. - Well the D20 figured that out. - I was gonna say, it seems fairly likely if they are patrolling for food, that their sentences are going to be alert. - Yeah, I, hmm. - And if you wait till night, there's probably gonna be even more of them out there, so.

- And that and we need help soon. - That too. (suspenseful music) (sighs) - Look, simple majority, just vote. Hands up for, I should give it a shot, make a distraction while we get the bird out. - Cole begrudgingly raises his hand. - Bellarath will raise hers. - She was gonna tell you just do it. - All right. - Well, fuck. - I think, I really do think this is the safest route for a Sora. - No, no, totally, majority rules. Sora is just very opposed. - I understand, but I think this is the best idea we've got. So she'll give it a try and she'll use ghost sound to make a sound like a whimpering child come from that building.

Something that sounds hurt or wounded. - Do me a favor and roll a bluff check for me. - Oh, I have excellent bluff. - Across the street, there's gonna be an audible noise that sounds like a weak child crying out. And inside Shaw is going to, you're gonna see him tense up, like visibly his back's gonna stiffen. Two of these wolves are going to instantly break out into a sprint toward that location and almost collide with each other trying to get inside. And then you're going to see a third wolf come out of nowhere that was just out of line of sight, bound toward this building and place, place its hands on either side of the door, using the archway to propel itself forward inside.

And you're going to hear a desperate commotion as these creatures are rummaging around in that house, looking for the source of that sound. - Release the bird. - Ingrid is going to gently, making sure that the bird fits through the hole. This raven is going to take off into the sky and Ingrid is going to watch it flap its wings and then move in a direction that would be back the way you guys came. And after a moment, it is going to disappear from sight. Guys, I think that's a good time for us to wrap things up for the day. - Oh, oh. - Hey, we made it to Lockfort.

- You guys, welcome to Lockfort. - Hey. - Hey. - And none of us are dead. - Nope. You guys continue to defy the odds. - You are so lucky. - I can't, I can't. - You just can't. - I can't even right now. - I am so thrilled. - Nobody drowned. - Nobody. - Nobody got eaten by a werewolf yet. - Oh, thanks, Sal. - Thanks, Sal. - I'm like just imagining that gray wolf thing, like fucking stalking us. - Ugh. - It was like, that sounded eerily similar to what was peeping at us in the cave.